An Anthem Deferred
by The Musical Jedi
Summary: Pre-TPM. A Rogue Knight works to uncover an assassination plot. Involves original and canon characters. Sequel to To Walk Away FINE
1. Default Chapter

Sequel to **To Walk Away** although it was actually written before. Please forgive the odd format, with the asterisks. This was actually originally written for the Jedi Council Fan Fiction websites, and the asterisks denote an end to the post. We don't need that many chapters, now do we? ;)   
  
Anyway, I write for my own pleasure and cathartic needs. I make no money, and thank Lucas for his incredible universe.   
  
Feedback is always welcome. :) Now, without further ado...   
  
**An Anthem Deferred**   
_The Rouge_   
  
An exceptional rain fell on the surface of Coruscant as figures hurried through the weather towards their personal destinations. Groups of people moved across the walkways, many moving to find shelter from the rain. It fell in droves, fury making up for infrequency. One person walked alone, however, her face hidden in the cowl of her outer robe. She ignored the rain, walking at a leisurely pace on the damp walkway.   
  
She continued across, making her way carefully although swiftly. It wasn't long before she crossed the invisible boundary marking the difference between the Senatorial sector of Coruscant and a seedier district. The ones close to the presence of the Senate were nicer that the ones across the planet, although none had the high-price glamour of the area dominated by the Senate. The Jedi Temple was located near the Senatorial district, its tall spires showing their own majesty in the skyline. It dominated that area, however dwarfed by the buildings housing the galactic government.   
  
The wind moved the rain almost horizontal, and it caught the cowl of the woman's robe, blowing it away from her face. Her shoulder-length dark hair was buffeted by the wind, although she paid little attention to it. Intense green eyes peered intelligently between the strands of hair. Her slim frame was outlined by the fabric of the robe, revealing rather plain, unadorned clothes beneath.   
  
A few minutes of walking brought her in front of a building where she pulled open the door against the wind, hurrying inside as it slammed shut with extra force. She gave her head a quick shake, her hair falling haphazardly away from her face. The young woman walked across the small lobby to address a small humanoid behind the desk. The humanoid looked annoyed and barked, "State your business."   
  
"My name is Raven Darkfeather, and I'm here to meet a relative of mine," the young woman replied, looking bored with the protocol. The humanoid nodded, indicating a hallway and giving her a room number. As Raven moved away, a look of mild disgust crossed her features. Common courtesy wasn't so expensive that it couldn't be afforded even in this sector of Coruscant.   
  
She entered the room that she was indicated, finding only an older man wearing pants with the Corellian blood stripe down the legs and a loose tunic. "I thought you would be earlier," he said, his tone revealing his mild irritation.   
  
Raven shrugged indifferently. "If you wouldn't make the pick-up points in rather public places, especially in the Senatorial sector, you might find me a little more prompt," she retorted lightly. "However, I am not late. If you are unhappy with my services, find yourself another runner." She produced a small data chip from a pouch that hung on her belt, offering it to the Corellian.   
  
He took it, handing her a credit chip in return as he snorted scornfully. "You are the best runner I have ever encountered. I won't dismiss you on the grounds of you almost being late. Your talents at remaining anonymous are key to the distribution of information I find both important and private."   
  
Inclining her head slightly in suggestion of a bow, she took the credit chip. "You know how to contact me should you require my particular talents again," she replied, a hint of amusement on her face. Raven turned and exited the room, leaving with silent footsteps.   
  
***   
  
The brief squall had stopped by the time Raven exited the nondescript building. Gray clouds still hung low in the air, which was moist and warm from the storm. She left the hood of her cloak down as she began moving down the walkway towards the closest transport station.   
  
The station was crowded, full of different species, some conversing in low tones and a myriad of languages on the platform. Slowly, she threaded her way to the transport that would take her across the planet, to one of the more dubious districts on Coruscant. No one took notice of the dark-haired woman.   
  
Her ride was uneventful, despite the fact she spent it standing up. When the transport stopped at her location, she slipped away in the sparse crowd, paying no attention to the raised eyebrows from the wealthier passengers. It didn't take strong senses to tell that they felt superior to anyone who would get off in the area of the capital planet.   
  
A few blocks from the transport stop, a large group of people had gathered. An older man stood on a small, temporary platform. He was expounding on the greed and evils of the Senate politicians and the various elements within its entourage. His shouts were filled with accusations of the corruption within the government. As he stormed on top of his platform, he complained that instead of being concerned with their home planets and systems, many of the politicians found little interesting beyond increasing their power and the number of credits within their accounts.   
  
Raven moved along the perimeter of the group, smiling faintly at the man's audacity. Any diplomat would be angered by his speech, especially the truthful examples he cited. She had little love lost for politicians, especially the breed the status of senator in the Galactic Senate attracted. The Republic was slowly being distorted from within, its focus moving from governing to greed. Still, inviting attention by voicing such views was dangerous to her. Raven had her own methods of fighting those transgressions.   
  
She was almost beyond the crowd when someone grabbed her arm painfully. Raven whirled, her hackles rising at the affront. A member of the Coruscant Security, Diplomatic Corps, grinned back at her insolently. He had a data pad and light pen tucked in one hand. His blue eyes had a feral look as he continued to smirk. "What have we here?" he said amused, his voice slick.   
  
"Shove off," Raven replied harshly, yanking her arm from his grasp. The man clucked his tongue chidingly, gently fingering the lavender armband indicating his status as he put away his data pad and pen. He moved in front of her, blocking her path.   
  
"That's no way to speak to a member of the CorSec, especially one under the command of the senator from Corellia," he replied smoothly, making it obvious she wouldn't get past without making a scene.   
  
"Are you taking notes for Boeta?" she replied in return. "I knew he was too indolent to do his own dirty work."   
  
The guard sneered at the taunt. "If you were to join our ranks and run for us, you might find the benefits of working for one as influential as Senator Boeta. Your assets will be well appreciated," he added, giving a cursory, corporeal glance to her.   
  
Raven's hand strayed to the lightsaber clipped to her hip. The guard followed the movement, his face contorting into a wicked grin. "That's it, strike me down. Your precious Temple won't come to your defense. I know your past. Boeta would crucify you for it and slaughter the Temple's image for allowing a rogue like you to walk away from them unwatched."   
  
She slipped past him instead, allowing her frustration to dissipate in to the Force, her frustration at allowing her anger to control her actions to that extent and losing her focus. The guards shouldn't have riled her up that much, even if he was a diplomatic guard to Boeta himself. He made it his business to cause trouble for the Jedi Temple, as well as her, since she didn't want to be his runner or lover. That was why he dug up her past and informed his guards of her appearance and past, to coerce her into compliance. It helped explain why Raven was determined to reveal his past and present misdeeds.   
  
However, that didn't stop the guard's cruel laughter from echoing in her ears. He was still right, as much as she hated it. 


	2. Only One

As before, I make no money on this. Heck, I'm a poor college student. Don't sue; I'm not worth it.   
  
~~~~~~~~   
  
_Only One_   
  
Raven entered a rather dilapidated structure about a five-minute walk from the rally on the walkway. She was lost in thought as she made the short journey across the lobby to the lifts, setting it to go to the highest floor. Unlike most buildings on Coruscant, the disrepair didn't lesser the farther up in the building one went. It was continuous throughout, a rather depressing place.   
  
The lift chimed, and she exited to be nearly bowled over by a small girl racing in the hallway. "You can't catch me!" she shrieked to the older boy farther down the hall. The boy whooped and gave chase for a short distance then stopped to greet Raven.   
  
"Ash! You're back! Where did you go?" he queried, latching on to one of her legs.   
  
Raven smiled gently, extracting him from her extremity. "I had some errands to run, Copelan," she replied. "I had to go all the way to the Senate sector." The little girl had appeared next to her brother, her blue eyes wide. Her longer hair was a dirty blond, pulled back into a messy ponytail. She was about four years old and grinned to reveal two missing teeth on her lower jaw.   
  
He glared at her slightly, his gray eyes blazing in an older sibling's fury as she pushed towards Raven. Copelan C'xon was about six, his cropped hair a muted red, taking after his father. He crossed his arms in annoyance. Both children wore well-worn clothes, fraying around the edges. Raven stooped down, producing two small wind-up toys from a pouch on her belt, the cheap kind that could be bought from street vendors. "Here, I brought these for you," she told them, smiling again at their elation.   
  
"Mama!" the girl, Nara, cried, rushing into the open door on the hallway. Copelan followed at a more sedate rate, though excitement gleamed in his eyes. Raven brought up the rear of the small entourage, peering in the doorway.   
  
A toddler, another boy, watched from the floor as his siblings charged the blond woman standing in the meager kitchen of the apartment. The woman was relatively young with blond hair and blue eyes. She was short in stature, especially compared to the taller Raven. The two were essentially opposites except for their slime frames, although Availle's was beginning to thicken around the middle, an indication of another child on its way.   
  
The apartment reflected the shabbiness of the children's clothes, well cared for if threadbare. It had a small living room with a few couches. The bedrooms were off a back hallway, a master room for the parents, one for the toddler and Copelan, and the other for Nara. All were small, however, with little room for much beyond a closet and a sleep couch. However, love suffused the small living area.   
  
Raven picked up the toddler, Lian by name, and crossed the living room into the kitchen. Ava C'xon looked at him with a loving smile then gave one to Raven. "You didn't have to get them something," she informed the taller woman good-naturedly.   
  
Giving Ava a shrug, Raven tickled Lian's belly, coaxing a smile from him. "I know I didn't," she replied, "but I wanted to get them something to brighten their day. Besides, it will keep them occupied for a while." As if to underscore her comment, the two older children were making noises comparable to fighters or other kinds of spacecraft.   
  
Ava's eyes darkened for a moment. "Not much money for new things," she conceded, giving her ample stomach a reflexive brush. "Especially not now." She shook her head, looking sad for a moment.   
  
Raven considered, watching Copelan and Nara play in the living room for a moment. She sighed, shaking her dark head. Carefully, she set Lian down with his brother and sister, returning to the kitchen. "How soon?" she asked quietly.   
  
"Only three more months," Ava replied, washing vegetables for their dinner. There was no meat for this meal, as there had not been for many. "I don't know what we're going to do. This wasn't supposed to happen."   
  
The taller woman watched the children play with each other, Nara and Copelan being impressively careful around Lian. They wound up the small freighter models, letting the ships go to drift lazily around the room and then fetching them to play again. Her right hand snaked to a pouch on her belt beyond Ava's view. Raven withdrew a credit chip and set it on the counter.   
  
Ava saw the chip and shook her head. "Ash…" she began, her tone somewhere between thankful and reproachful.   
  
Shaking her head, Raven waved off the explanation. "I'm only one. I don't need as much money as I earn."   
  
Ava's lips compressed as she picked up the chip, motioning with it. "I don't want to take your…." She trailed off, catching sight of the amount the chip was worth. "Eight thousand credits! Ash, I can't take this! Where did you get this much?"   
  
"They're not dirty credits," Raven replied nonchalantly. "Completely valid, clean, honestly earned money." Ava looked a little distressed, not wanting to cross back into this familiar argument. "The work I do is dangerous. I don't want to drag you into something just by having knowledge."   
  
Ava sighed. "I'll talk to Dane about it," she said finally, completely noncommittal. Raven gave her a brief, knowing smile. That meant she would hear from him later.   
  
***   
  
Raven walked into her dark apartment, swinging the door closed behind her and activating the lights. She took off her cloak and hung it on a peg by the door. With a quiet sigh, she crossed the small room. Data pads lay scattered on the table, a wealth of unorganized information. Pulling out a small data pad from a pouch on her belt, she withdrew a chip from it and set it amidst the mess. The table was situated between the wall filled with storage areas supporting the next level of apartment and the bar separating the small living area from the kitchen. Opposite the small kitchen was a door leading to the refresher.   
  
The rest of her apartment was very small. It was constructed into two half floors with a small ledge to function as a bunk. Her door was located under the staircase to the second floor, which had a couple of worn leather couches and a table. It also had a large, floor-to-ceiling picture window that viewed the Senatorial sector of Coruscant. In the distance, the Galactic Senate building and the Jedi Temple spires were visible. The corner of that room had a small communications station with a holoprojector, functioning as a method of giving news and vids from the local channels, as well as storing data and making calls. A small ladder stood in the corner, above the door on the floor below, leading to her bunk, where a pillow and thick comforter lay strewn on the bed, unmade.   
  
Raven frowned, pulling off her boots and going up the open stairs to the next level. She paused for a moment, looking out over the endless cityscape that was beyond her small home. Usually, she jokingly referred to the apartment as a loft; it tended to be warm during the summer months and cold during the winter. These extremities in temperature didn't both Raven much, although the building's truculent climate systems and other idiosyncrasies were know to cause other residents, such as the C'xons, difficulties.   
  
A small blinking light on the comm caught Raven's eye, drawing her away from the window. It indicated that she had a new message from her afternoon away. "Play message," she told the machine, dividing her attention between it and the view. Something bothered her, tugging at the edge of her awareness, although she couldn't tell, either from her own deductions or the Force, what the slight disturbance was.   
  
A young man with sandy hair appeared, dressed in common clothes, looking a little strained "Raven," it said, the baritone voice placing the person as a middle-aged male, "I need to do me a favor. I need you to pick up my daughter at her school. I will be at work late. Thanks." Then, the figured winked out.   
  
Raven tore her gaze from the skyline, approaching the station. She located where the message had been stored on her system and, fingers flying across the keyboard, accessed the information encoded within the visual message itself. It was a relatively safe method of keeping secret information as such. The message was from one of her clients, one Wai S'rmen. He needed something, his 'daughter,' run from an office within the Bespin embassy to another location on the other side of the Senatorial sector. She sighed. The poor lackey of S'rmen seemed very tight and concerned. It must be a very important transfer.   
  
She copied her specifics onto a chip, put it in one of the compartments on her belt, and then erased the message and all indications of its previous presence on her system. It would be unfortunate, however unlikely, if someone were to search her system for her runner activities. Most of the information she carried pertained to illegal activities, besides the fact that running in and of itself was illegal.   
  
With a sigh, she flung herself onto the couch, reaching to grab a six-stringed instrument propped up against it, a ratiuar. Raven plucked a few of the strings, adjusting their lengths with her left hand as the fingers on her right picked out a melody. She had learned the instrument as a padawan at the Temple, something her master had taught her. In fact, she had given Raven this particular ratiuar, with its clean, natural blond front and mellow tone. Her tension and frustration eased away as she used it to facilitate her meditation.   
  
***   
  
A knock came on her doorway some time later. Raven put aside her ratiuar and walked down the short flight of stairs to answer it. A taller, young man with dusty blond hair stood in the doorway, shifting his weight as though he were nervous. Raven smiled and moved aside, gesturing inside. "Hello, Dane. Ava told me I would see you."   
  
Dane moved within the room, and Raven shut the door quietly. He had his hands shoved deep in his pockets while the look on his face showed his distress. "I can't take your money," he said finally.   
  
"You're not taking my money. I gave it to you of my own free will. Consider it a return of the favor when you got me back on my feet. If you hadn't befriended me when I first came to this sector, I would probably be dead or starving." Raven countered softly, crossing her arms. This was a familiar argument, one with the lines already drawn in the sand.   
  
"It may not be safe. I know it will buy food, money, and new clothes for the kids, but what if someone tracks it? Then we'd be in trouble. I can't do that to them. I can't do that to Ava. We have enough problems as it is," he sighed.   
  
Raven shrugged. "It can't be traced. You have Republican credits right there. No strings attached, no vouchers for the rest of the money later. I won't deny that sometimes my payments can be suspicious, but I've never handed that money to you. That stays with me. You know I'm a runner. You've seen me near the Alderaanian office, picking up or dropping off things. But I don't run for dangerous or corrupt groups, like the gangs who sell spices or weapons. This is mostly information or packages that are essentially harmless, such as flimsy documents or things of personal value. It may be illegal, but I run honestly. I wouldn't knowingly do anything to hurt your family. They are as much of a family I'll ever have because of all you've done for me. Take the credits. If not for me, then take them for Ava. With the baby coming soon, you'll need more money than ever."   
  
He shook his head angrily, and Raven could see tears glistening at the corners of Dane's eyes. She walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder. Immediately, he brushed it off, moving out of reach and ignoring her wounded look. "Give me time to think," he said finally. "I don't want to bring danger…"   
  
Raven spread her hands apart in a gesture of placation. "Knowingly, I would never do that. And you know it." Dane looked torn, and she knew that it was a hard decision for him to possibly put his family into jeopardy, not matter how remote that possibility might be. Long moments passed until he finally nodded assent albeit begrudgingly. She gave him a relieved look, as he disappeared back into the hall.   
  
She let out a breath, not realizing she had been holding it while he was contemplating. Raven moved to her table and sat in a chair. She began to sift through the cards, trying to organize them into a way that made sense. The rogue was sure that she had nearly all the information, but she couldn't piece it together correctly. That concerned her, because her instincts, however hesitantly, were beginning to warn her that time was running out. 


	3. The Stranger

Feedback! Please!   
  
Also, my thanks to George Lucas for his universe-gone-writers'-paradise. I make no money on this, but if I did, I'd probably just buy more Star Wars stuff. :)   
  
~~~~~~~~~~   
  
_The Stranger_   
  
The sun was peering over the horizon as a few people began to filter onto the levels of Coruscant. The streets were still relatively empty as Raven made her way along one of the higher-level walkways. She glanced around, wary. It was abnormal for S'rmen to ask for a pick-up and drop in this crowded, as well as recognized, of an area. She was near the district where the embassies for the Senate were located, a place even more extravagant than the general region of the political sector.   
  
Raven slipped into an alley between two massive buildings, dark from the maintenance level that was overhead. She began to sift through the pouches on her belt. With a frown, she passed over the lightsaber clipped to her belt, finally locating a set of lock picks in a dog-eared leather case, making one last check that she had everything. Despite the fact she was no longer a Jedi, she still carried her weapon and tried to stay close to their ideals. The picks were also rather odd for her, since the Force made it possible to manipulate the mechanisms within an old lock easily. However, she was wary of other Jedi noticing such an action. Besides, it made more sense to an observer, given she preferred her history as private as possible.   
  
Walking the length of the alley, she cautiously stood at the gap, closing her eyes to reach out with her senses. A small disturbance rippled through the Force, but she thought little of it. A morning where there wasn't some tremor of agitation was one she hadn't experienced since she'd could remember and reach out with the Force.   
  
Taking a deep, steadying breath, she reviewed a mental picture of the area, pinpointing the old door leading, after a maze of stairways, to the room containing the data chip she needed. Then, she darted out, beginning to make her way swiftly down the street. Raven only made it a few steps when a young man, running hastily down the walkway, ran into her. They both fell heavily to the ground. Immediately, he rolled to the side, freeing her and jumping to his feet. He offered her a hand to get up when she saw the Coruscant Security forces running after him, the corps assigned to protecting diplomats' interests.   
  
Using his offer to get back on her feet, Raven signaled him to remain silent, leading him back into the alley. Frustration welled within her because she didn't have time for this. However, another opportunity to make her attempt would surface. Most likely, this man had done very little to irritate the CorSec, but they would hunt him with dogged perseverance for merely wounding their pride. The CorSec, especially the diplomatic lackeys, were arrogant and intrusive. Raven would rather save this man's hide and foil her own plot than gratify them with his capture. Besides, with the corps afoot, she would be hard-pressed to accomplish her pick-up anyway.   
  
She swung herself up onto a ladder leading to the maintenance level, reaching for her lock picks in the process. The man was still following her, his face blank, showing neither gratitude nor concern. Raven reached the small door leading to the area and yanked one of the lock picks out of the case still in her hand with her teeth. Shoving her cloak out of the way, she impatiently replaced the case in its holder on her belt, missing the interested look that passed through the man's gray-blue eyes at the sight of her lightsaber. She jammed the pick into the lock, listening carefully as she twisted it. The Force aided her in finding the right twist to the pick, since time was lacking to do the more traditional approach, and the door was open. They disappeared into the maintenance area as the CorSec flooded the alley, shutting the door quietly with the corps oblivious.   
  
* * *   
  
The maintenance area was dark with only a few emergency lights running along the floor as well as the bases of machine by which to see. Raven had never personally been up here, but she had always considered it a useful route. Large machines active in things like climate control and other systems for the huge buildings rumbled reverberatingly in the dark, making verbal communication impossible. Raven thought hard, trying to picture the street in her mind. An office building to some kind was to the east, her left as she had entered the alley. On the other side was an unknown embassy.   
  
When she turned to regard her companion, he was looking above himself, also studying the make-up of their haven. He glanced at her when she looked at him, flashing her a trusting grin. The man was rather tall and well built, obviously no weakling. His hair fell past his shoulders, pulled back from his face with a simple leather thong. Even in the dark, his strong facial features were evident, especially his prominent nose and cheekbones. The glimmer in his eyes and the look of his face seemed to go against the simpleton clothes he wore.   
  
Raven indicated that he should follow her. She set off, carefully making her way between the machines she didn't recognize. Quickly, she came to a dead end, but her companion located a catwalk that must serve to maintain the massive metal structures. The entire place reminded her of some kind of art gallery. They followed the catwalk, fortunately discovering a door at the end of it. With a shrug, she opened the door, hoping that the gamble had paid off.   
  
The door opened into a clean looking hallway, painted a soft pleasant color. Raven glanced around, stretching out with her senses. Nothing seemed amiss; the employees were busily consumed with their jobs. Raven stepped out, and her companion followed, giving her a first good view of him.   
  
His hair was a brown shade, laced with other colors. His nose carried a bulge in it, presumably from a break that hadn't set correctly. She could see his gray-blue eyes carried a kind of fire within them, sparked of intelligence and passion for something. There was something about his bearing that made her feel almost inferior, a quality she felt intimately acquainted with but couldn't precisely place. Still, Raven abandoned it for a moment.   
  
"Pretend we're supposed to be here until we can find a way out," she whispered to him. He gave her a quick nod, indicating his support of the plan, and Raven began walking, looking for an elevator back to the main level. The man trailed behind, taking in everything around him.   
  
A man in nice clothes rounded a corner, gave her and her companion a disgusted look then demanded, "What are you doing here?"   
  
Giving the young man behind her a quick glance, Raven dubbed herself the leader of this little organization and replied, "You needed some duct work. Our sensors detected it, and we were dispatched here. Well, we fixed the ducts, but now we can't find out way out." Raven tried to sound as coarse as possible, hoping that he would accept her reasons without demanding some kind of credentials.   
  
"Whom do you work for?" the man replied suspiciously, narrowing his eyes. No dice, Raven internally groaned.   
  
Her companion stepped forward. With a small flourish of his hand he answered, "The Coruscant Power Company. You will show us out," he then prompted.   
  
The other man nodded, accepting this explanation, echoing his words. He turned around and began to lead them down the maze of hallways.   
  
Raven followed, filled with slight apprehension. She suddenly placed her small feeling of inferiority. The man accompanying her was a Jedi, and even though she had left the Order five years ago, she was afraid he would look down upon her for her decision. Raven now could sense his awareness of the Force, also feeling foolish for being so preoccupied that she missed it. However, the rogue couldn't help but wonder as to what his mission was. She walked along, deep in consideration that was carefully shielded, of course.   
  
They were soon on the street again, finding it relatively empty, although Raven knew that was only temporary. "We should probably get you away from here," she said, turning to him. She smiled. "Then can I inquire as to what you did to incur the wrath of the CorSec?"   
  
The man shrugged a little humorously. "I haven't anywhere to go. I was looking for somewhere to stay around here, but wasn't aware how expensive – and high profile – this area is. I didn't really want the attention of staying here."   
  
Raven noticed a uniformed man rounding the corner with a lavender armband, a few more behind him similarly dressed. She indicated them and replied, "My place it is." 


	4. Jedi

_Jedi_   
  
The return trip was uneventful, although Raven wasn't sure how to act around the Jedi. She was thrown off guard by the whole concept of being near one again after so long. The feeling was hard to place; perhaps the rogue was concerned about condemnation, or maybe he was sent to locate her! She doubted that last explanation. Still, the experience was unnerving. Raven also wondered if he sensed her Force abilities, as well as the training behind her manipulations thereof.   
  
"Home sweet home," she murmured upon unlocking the door. The hallway had been empty of the C'xons, a development Raven was slightly thankful for. She didn't want to have to provide explanations of the young man accompanying her. Ava already thought she had been unwed for too long. "It's not much to look at, although it suffices."   
  
The young man swept the room with a perusing gaze, taking in the area. He noted the data pads on the table, as well as the station blinking a message. Raven noticed it a moment later, knowing it had to be S'rmen, upset at the failed pick-up. That could be dealt with later, however. At the moment, curiosity burned within Raven. She led the way up to the second level, inviting him to sit. He declined an offer for something to drink or eat. "So, how did you manage to thoroughly irritate the CorSec?" she asked, settling on the other couch as the young man sat down.   
  
"Don't I at least get a name to refer to you by?" he returned, looking mildly amused at her eagerness.   
  
"Ash," Raven replied with a sheepish grin. "Ash Suul. You?"   
  
"My name is Joshua Sowot," he smiled in amusement. Raven could sense that the name he had given was not his true name, although she held her peace. "As for your initial question, apparently I was just nosing around that embassy a little too closely for their tastes. I'm not sure what the specific problem was. One drew a blaster on me, set for stun, and I ran. I assumed I didn't want to experience their interrogation process."   
  
Raven nodded slowly, believing the idea behind his story. Parts of it seemed somewhat inaccurate, but the central idea was true. She had a brief internal struggle then came to a decision. "You're a long way from the Temple," she remarked casually, not missing the look that crossed his face.   
  
"What makes you think I'm a Jedi?" he asked curiously.   
  
Ash shrugged noncommittally. "I know what to look for, I suppose. You have the serenity and the bearing, an awareness that is far beyond normal senses. If you are not a Jedi, then I will eat one of the data pads of your choosing on the table below."   
  
"No need to worry about that," Joshua replied, his tone carrying some uncertainty. He seemed as discomfited as she was on the return trip to her home. "Do I carry it that obviously?" he finally asked nonplussed.   
  
Ash smiled at the unspoken question behind the true one. "Don't worry, I'm sure that your secret is unknown to essentially the rest of the planet. And it's safe with me; I have nothing but respect for Jedi." _It's just the domineering politics that bother me,_ she added mentally. _The Jedi themselves are fine._   
  
He made a gesture with his hand, and politely Ash changed the subject. "So, you have nowhere to land then?" she inquired.   
  
Joshua shook his head. "No, the amount of credits I was give isn't enough to cover an apartment anywhere on this planet," he frowned. Ash smirked to herself at that thought; apparently, the Council wasn't doing as much research about the assignments it gave as it ought.   
  
"If you have no qualms, I have no objections to extending my hospitality to you," Ash said impulsively. She liked this Jedi. It was obvious he was a little wet behind the ears, but instinctively she liked and trusted him. Besides, if he was snooping around embassies, perhaps they had similar goals, exposing Senate corruption. Although, due to the imperiously close ties between the Council and the Senate, at least in Raven's opinion, this was probably unlikely. Though still possible.   
  
Joshua considered for a moment. "That would be much appreciated," he finally replied with a smile. Ash nodded her satisfaction with the arrangement, smiling back. If nothing else, it would add variety to her life. _Although one could argue that's the last thing I need,_ she thought, with another deeper and more personal smile.   
  
***   
  
Some time later, Raven stepped out of the 'fresher, dark hair damp from her shower. She had changed into nicer clothes. She absented-mindedly toweled the extra wetness from her hair as she sat down at her table when the comm rang. With a sigh, the rogue went to the next level and answered the call. "Secure line," the computer cheerfully informed her, earning a roll of Raven's eyes.   
  
"Raven Darkfeather, what the hell happened?" S'rmen demanded. His thin face, topped with wispy gray hair, was taunt with annoyance and concern. He seemed relatively happy that she was there to answer, but that happiness was short lived. "Why didn't you make the pick up?"   
  
Raven made a soothing gesture to the hologram, glancing at Joshua, who appeared to be asleep on the couch. She doubted that he truly was, though, unsure what to make of the situation. With a sigh, she dismissed the problem. S'rmen was obviously livid, angry enough to place a call, regardless of the secure line, to her personally. He couldn't see her guest, and she would just have to find a way to deal with Joshua if it became an issue.   
  
"Someone upset the CorSec before I got there," Raven replied relaxingly, "and I couldn't make the pick-up without attracting major attention. I figured you preferred your privacy to promptness, so I just left the area. I couldn't have made it to the door and unlocked it in a reasonable amount of time. Neither of us wants the kind of attention the CorSec would bestow. I'm flexible on when I can try again."   
  
S'rmen's face became thoughtful as he considered the options. "I really need it done today," he replied. "This is very important. A moment." His image flickered out, replaced by blue-tinted static. Raven crossed her arms in annoyance, curious as to what her employer was doing. Then, his image reappeared.   
  
"I had someone check that street. There are only a couple of security men there now, so you should be able to accomplish the pick-up. When can I expect you to make the drop?"   
  
Raven checked the chrono in the corner of the hologram. It read 1530. Doing a bit of quick estimation, she replied, "I should be there no later than 1700, barring all further complications."   
  
"Right. Until then," he responded, and the call ended.   
  
Raven considered for a moment, heading back down to get her belt and light saber. She now looked like she belonged more in the Senatorial sector with a double-layered v-neck tunic that was held in place by her belt and nicer leggings. She began pulling on her boots. She grabbed her cloak and put it away, forgoing that for a different outer garment, a square cover with a hole for her head at the top, gear for a desert area. It covered her saber and belt. For further protection, and to avoid using her saber if necessary, she also grabbed her modified blaster and put it in the holster at her hip.   
  
"I thought you said your name was Ash Suul, not Raven Darkfeather," Joshua said, breaking her thought process. She wondered how long he'd been watching her preparations. Truthfully, she had forgotten he was there. He stood at the top of the stairs, arms akimbo and face thoughtful.   
  
"They both are, in their own ways," Raven replied, feeling a little odd explaining that concept to a Jedi. "Truth is often merely your perception. Ash Suul, as far as I know, is my given name. I attained the alias Raven Darkfeather to use as a runner's name. It would be dangerous to be known in that spectrum by my real name." Her cheeks reddened a little at having to admit to him that she was a runner. It was doubtful that he would do otherwise than object to upon such an occupation.   
  
Joshua seemed to accept this explanation. Then, he completely surprised her. "May I go with you on your run?"   
  
Raven frowned, instinctively wanting to say no, and tried to come up with a good reason why he couldn't. She couldn't come up with one, though. Instead, she began to wonder what kind of mission he was assigned to, having curiosity about her assignment. Perhaps it was just interest that drove him to ask. "I don't know why not," she said finally. He smiled his gratitude and made himself ready to go.   
  
Raven watched, wondering what she had gotten herself into. 


	5. A Matter of Trust

_A Matter of Trust_   
  
In fifteen standard minutes, they were back in the alley. Joshua seemed rather interested in the whole affair, though Raven was more cautious. Something was jumpy within her, her senses screaming that something was amiss. This wouldn't be a standard run.   
  
"I'm going to check out the street," she informed him. "Wait here." Raven crept out to where the alley met the street, glancing around the corner. Two men were standing on the street, carrying on a lively conversation. Both wore the lavender diplomatic armbands. Raven didn't recognize the insignia on one of the men's arms, probably the embassy to the west, but the other was all too familiar. He was Corellian, one of Boeta's men.   
  
"Of all the Sithy developments…" she said quietly, breaking off into a string of vibrant curses as she moved away from the street. Joshua tossed her a questioning look. "There are only two, but one of them will recognize me. It'll be the end of my days if he catches me making a pick-up. S'rmen's going to be furious." Suddenly, an idea occurred to her. "Can I trust you?" she asked, studying his face closely. Raven reached out into the Force as much as she dared without revealing her secret. She had to know the truth of his reply.   
  
He looked confused, glancing out beyond the alley and then to her. "I don't follow," he replied.   
  
"If I distract them, will you make the lift for me? We can then rendezvous somewhere. You said you want to come. Do you want to make half a run? Can I trust you?"   
  
Joshua nodded, his face dissolving into some kind of unreadable resolve. "You can trust me," he replied. Then a grin broke his mask for a moment. "Consider it repaying the favor you granted me earlier today." Raven smiled back, feeling his sincerity.   
  
"Here's the plan. I'm going to go out and distract them. I'm sure the Corellian will draw me into conversation. Once you see that I'm talking to them, go to this door," she took out a blank data pad and a light pen and sketched a simplistic map, "and open it. Then, go here," she indicated the map, "and you'll find the data pad on a table. Leave through this door and meet me here in 45 standard minutes. We'll have to hurry to make 1700, but it should work out. Here." Raven took out a lock pick. "Pretend to use this to open the door while you manipulate it with the Force. It will look like a key. Just pretend you're supposed to be there."   
  
Raven walked to the end of the alley then turned back to him. "May the Force be with you," she said quietly, then the rogue disappeared out onto the street.   
  
***   
  
Joshua waited in the alley, alone with his thoughts. He hadn't missed her surprise when he'd asked to accompany her, however, he suspected that the reasons she assigned to the question were actually quite different. Something about her bothered him, the way she moved, the way she dealt with other people. For some reason, she was staying close to the ground, and his instincts told him it wasn't just because of her occupation. He was wary of her, even though he yet really had no reason to be, and he preferred to stay close so he could keep an eye on her. The Force whispered that she was important, somehow.   
  
When he estimated that she had had enough time, he moved to check out the street. When he peered around the corner, Raven – Ash? – was standing there, talking quietly with the guards, looking none too happy. Taking a deep breath, he found his center in the Force, and then he walked out onto the street, trying his best not to attract attention.   
  
He felt the gaze of the two guards flicker to him, as well as Raven's, all cursory glances. Joshua couldn't hear what they were saying, but he assumed that that was superficial as well. He mused on his mission, to find if there was body to rumors that a senator was attempting to assassinate a speaker against the corruption in the Senate, when their discussion caught his attention.   
  
"…Rogue Jedi, then levitate yourself or something else!" the Corellian laughed at Raven. Her cheeks bloomed a bright red, but she remained there. "If your precious Temple didn't respect you, then why should we?" he added. The two guards laughed over something else, and Raven made what must have been a quiet retort, because the last thing Joshua heard before he moved out of range was, "No wonder the Jedi kicked you out."   
  
Joshua felt betrayed. Suddenly it all made sense, her secrecy and mannerisms. Had she really been kicked out of the Order, or was it some kind of cruel joke? Perhaps that was why she ran drops and pick-ups. She seemed nice enough, and he instinctively felt he could trust her, even though she had distorted the truth of her name. Somehow, he knew that at some point she must have been a Jedi. That was the only reason she could have placed him so easily. It made a disturbing amount of sense; she had the resourcefulness of a Jedi, the instincts, the carriage. She looked the part of a Jedi warrior and in fact carried her lightsaber still. That made sense of his earlier observation. Raven had saved him from the wrath of the Coruscant Security, although he didn't know why. But she was still a rogue.   
  
The word tasted bitter within his mind as he unlocked the door and went inside. The staircase led up to the hallway, and he successfully navigated his way to the room with the data pad. It surprised him how easy it was to pick it up and leave. Somehow, he had expected more of a challenge from this line of work. However, he was glad for the ease of the task. He had given his word, she could trust him, in this at least. Still, he needed to think of some way to confront her on this. She was a rogue! She'd left the Temple! Joshua mused that the answer to her question, could she trust him, now all hinged on her answer to his: Why did she leave the Temple? 


	6. The Value of Information

_The Value of Information_   
  
All was going according to plan, at least as far as Raven knew. She had distracted the guards long enough for Joshua to disappear into the building. She made sure it keep them talking, or perhaps roasting her was a better way to think of it, some time past his departure from the street so they didn't connect the two.   
  
The only hitch was the fact she ran into another morality discussion on her way to the rendezvous point. This one was being conducted by a very young man, one who was perhaps not even twenty. He spoke vehemently on the bureaucracy and corruption of the Senate and swore that someday he would take office and try to change that. Raven recognized him from her own personal studies. His name was Finis Valorum, the son of a rather powerful senator from a cluster of stars. That family had a long history of political attachments, and Raven had few doubts that he would someday hold a position that would allow him to make good on his current promises, if he bothered to remember them.   
  
The Rogue rounded the next corner, at the intersection where she had told Joshua to meet her, when suddenly she found herself pinned to a building wall, the air knocked out of her. Joshua stood before her, hand slightly outstretched. Raven was confused but remained calm. She was held against the wall by the Force, and she didn't struggle against it. Instead, she worked to exude serenity.   
  
"Why did you tell me you were a rogue?" Joshua demanded loudly. The few people in the street glanced their direction, more attention that Raven didn't particularly want. She had regained her breath, but she didn't like the irate way he was looking at her. Her mind raced, wondering what was so important that he would lose even the Jedi calm over this. Rogues were not completely uncommon.   
  
"There will be a time and a place for such questions," she replied, "but this is neither. We have a task to accomplish, and then I will answer your questions."   
  
He glared at Raven. "I trusted you."   
  
"Why don't you still? I haven't done anything differently. I promise on the Oaths I took to become a Jedi Knight that I will answer your questions when we get back to my loft. But first we have to visit S'rmen. All right?" She looked at him almost pleadingly. He had to understand.   
  
Joshua stepped back and dropped his hand, and Raven felt the pressure against her slack away. He handed her the data pad then turned away. "What are you carrying?" he asked instead, still looking annoyed.   
  
Raven gave him a relieved glance that he didn't see, walking stiffly ahead of her. She activated the pad and skimmed the information on it. It was encoded, but the code was one of his she had already broken. Although she trusted S'rmen, she still felt justified in reading his information, whether to add to her own files or just know what she was carrying. "It really is about his daughter," she explained. "He's worried for her safety, and it's an update from her ship. She's a smuggler for him, trying to avoid the high tariffs imposed by the Trade Federation. It describes her last run and the bombing of her ship. He must have gotten word that the ship was destroyed, but his daughter is all right."   
  
Suddenly, that made a little more sense. Perhaps he was concerned about what kind of illegal activity in which he was involving himself. If she were a Dark Jedi, he might have been carrying the orders that would bring about another Jedi's death or something along those lines. Still, this was rather innocent business as far as illegal activities went. Perhaps that prompted his outburst.   
  
Joshua nodded.   
  
They walked the rest of the way in silence, each left to his own thoughts. The drop was uneventful, except for the fact a grateful S'rmen gave Raven an extra bonus for her timely delivery, indicated that he was more worried than Raven suspected. Joshua waited on the street, watching as night began to fall on this side of the planet, the lighting banks beginning to illuminate the street. He didn't know what to think. But at least she had promised him answers.   
  
***   
  
"Why didn't you tell me you were a rogue Jedi?"   
  
Raven and Joshua hadn't even made it all the way in the door before he asked his question again. She could tell it was burning within him, the desire to know every reason behind her decision.   
  
Calmly she went into her small kitchen, taking a small pitcher out of the fridge. Raven produced two mugs, pouring brown, pleasant-smelling liquid from the pitcher. She put the two mugs on heating elements then looked across the bar to where Joshua stood, waiting with an un-Jedi-like impatience for his answer. Raven smiled slightly. "Did you learn patience at the Temple?" she asked, waving away his response. "I didn't tell you because it's not something that would be safe for a number of people to know. Besides, you, being a Jedi, become a kind of risk to me, depending on your opinion of rogues in general. Next question?"   
  
Raven put a finger in one of the mugs. She removed it, nodding satisfactorily, and handed the other mug to Joshua, turning off the heating elements. "It's a drink called a Dantooine mudslide," she explained, cutting off the question before he could ask. "Normally it has rum in it, but I forewent the alcohol for obvious reasons. A lucid conversation would be beneficial. I have a few questions of my own," she said, an amused smile playing across her lips. Joshua followed her up the steps where they settled on the larger couch. Raven sat with her legs drawn up under her, facing him with her back to the armrest. He sat, partially facing her, still retaining some kind of decorum.   
  
"Why did you leave?" he finally asked, taking a sip of the drink. It had a rich, chocolaty taste with hints of vanilla and other flavors he couldn't identify. The drink was very tasty, though.   
  
"That's a more difficult story," she replied, taking a deep draught from her mug. "I have many problems with the way the Temple functions. I don't like how it is essentially an arm of the Senate. Jedi are at the beck and call of corrupt politicians, and there is nothing they can do about it. The Temple has become a branch of the Diplomatic Corps, solving petty problems that ought to be left to Senatorial aides. Since the Galactic Senate is bureaucratic and fraudulent, it's only a matter of time before the Jedi lose their respect. I can't agree with the Council's decisions on missions and political entanglements. Often, the right thing to do in a situation must be foregone for political reasons. Now I get a question. What is your mission?"   
  
Raven didn't miss his uncomfortable shift. "A request that rumors threatening an assassination of a political speaker brought me here. It's rather ambiguous." He took another drink from his mug to hide his discomfort. Raven considered a moment, debating whether the discomfort was feigned due to his reluctance to share his own information. If it was, she decided to let it go. His secrets were his own, as were hers, and she herself hadn't been exactly forthcoming with details.   
  
With a shake of her head, the rogue stood, walked down the stairs, and surveyed the mess of data cards. She perused them, selected one, and returned to the couch. Raven handed him the card. He glanced at it, confusion on his features for a moment. "I don't understand," Joshua said finally.   
  
"It's unfortunate how unhelpful the Council is. This is information that is possibly linked to your investigation. I've been monitoring one of the senator's movements, and he, as do a number of his men, listens to political speakers. Many of the cards on my table may contain information on your mission," she replied wryly. "The speaker who probably is in danger is named Finis Valorum. His father is the senator of a small cluster of planets near Corellia and has many enemies within the Senate. Finis himself hasn't made any friends by speaking out against the government."   
  
"How did you find all of this out?" he said, his voice soft and reflective. Raven smiled, seeing the thought processes of a Jedi racing parsecs ahead to consider political implications, among others. She also didn't miss the touch of irritation on her wealth of information on the subject. However, the defector couldn't help but wonder if he noticed her own discomfort. What did he think of her? Did he only see a deserter? Could she really trust him? Raven shoved the thoughts away. They wouldn't help.   
  
"It's rather elementary. I make it my business to know things. I especially like to find out information on the particular senator I mentioned before, since he makes it his business to know about me. That is why those Corellians were harassing me about being a Rogue earlier today. Boeta told them of my past and my looks. He wishes to aggravate me into working for him. But, in a way, knowing information keeps me alive. What is your real name?"   
  
Joshua was obviously taken somewhat by surprised by Raven's abrupt question, but only to her trained eyes. He shifted almost imperceptibly and raised one eyebrow, training his blue-gray eyes on her. "That information is dangerous," he replied finally, obviously thinking over an appropriate answer to the question.   
  
Raven shrugged, standing up again to look outside on the cityscape. "You have enough information on me to ensure my own death, as well as the torture of others around me," she replied. "Boeta knows I'm up to something, which is why he wants me closer than I prefer. Besides the fact that my history makes me unwanted in most scenarios."   
  
"I can't say I understand your reasons for leaving the Order," Joshua replied, still avoiding the question. He took another thoughtful drink from his mug.   
  
"I can't say I expect you to," Raven replied evenly. The Rogue waited a long moment, sensing nothing but his presence. The tension in the room was evident, and she knew that the trust of this partnership, if they indeed began to work together on this little project, hinged on his response. Raven realized that too much time had passed. It was done, then. The Jedi and she were both on his own. With an inaudible sigh, she decided that he wasn't as trustworthy as she had dared hoped and turned away from the window. "Very well th-"   
  
"Jinn," he broke in. "My name is Qui-Gon Jinn. Perhaps we can work together, Raven Darkfeather."   
  
"That is my hope." 


	7. A Moment of Peace

_A Moment of Peace_

Raven was up before the sun the next morning, her guest slumbering deeply in her bed, snoring quietly. She had given him that spot and spent the night on the larger couch. It had been an uneventful night, which left her well rested for some planning.

She cleared off the table near the kitchen, stacking the data cards onto the bar separating the dining area from the actual kitchen. The Rogue produced a map of the sectors of Coruscant, making small notations in a red pen. Occasionally, she would refer back to the cards she had stacked, clarifying a location. After a while, the red pen disappeared and a blue one appeared, making more references of locations.

The map, for the moment, was really no help. She kept records of where she saw Boeta's men when they were outside of their usual settings. However, it was all rather random. The points where she had seen them listening to political speakers were in blue, but they were even more arbitrary, since the speakers themselves often didn't follow a set tour for giving their talks. Whatever game Boeta was playing, Raven had little doubt that he was aware she was tailing him. She had to figure the game out before it was too late.

Light began to diffuse beneath the curtains pulled over her large picture window when Raven stood up from the table and stretched. Joshua was still asleep, and she couldn't help but wonder what had prompted him to become so tired. Jedi didn't generally need much sleep, being trained to ignore to some degree their personal needs. Still, if nothing else, it was a testament to his trust, that he would so relax his guard in her house.

With a few twists of her arms and legs, Raven began to work the sleep from her joints, her mind wandering. She couldn't help but wonder if he had picked up on her unease around him. Something within her still insisted that she trust this Jedi she'd somewhat rescued off the street. However, it had been five years at least since she'd left the Temple, and her instincts, although Jedi-trained, had been honed for a runner's lifestyle. Truths that may hold true for the nobility of the Order could easily get her killed here, where there was no diplomatic protection, no title of Jedi behind which to hide. Not to say that she thought this Qui-Gon Jinn to be a coward; he was simply different from her. They'd made different choices. Choices made from what seemed to be the best move at the time. _But times change, don't they?_ she thought to herself.

She changed from the rumpled clothes she had slept in into a fresh pair of leggings and a tunic. Her senses were tingled at her, although the reason remained lost to her, despite her attempts to locate it. Raven walked over to the picture window, pulling one of the curtains to the side, looking out over her home, her face blank with thought. Eventually her hand reached for her instrument, and broodingly her fingers plucked out a tune as she fiercely stared at nothing at all.

Qui-Gon awoke to the gentle strumming of Raven's ratiuar. He looked out beyond the ledge that framed the bunk, seeing Raven below him on the arm of the couch. Her legs were drawn up, supporting the instrument as well as giving her a brace, keeping her where she was. He didn't recognize the tune or the words that she sang quietly. It took the Jedi a moment to realize they weren't even in Basic.

The Jedi didn't move, enjoying the moment of peace. It seemed that nothing was wrong. He wasn't really on a mission to prevent an assassination that he was woefully uninformed about, there weren't any pressing matters to attend to. Qui-Gon mused on what kind of life he had given up by becoming one of the Jedi. Of course, he always had the option of leaving the Order as Raven had, but somehow he doubted he could ever make that decision. He, too, had his own disagreements with the Council and other small things about the Order. However, he simply spoke his mind and in the end made the best decision he could in the situation. It was all anyone could ever do, make the choice that seems right at the time. However, the moment of peace passed, and he could feel the weight of the Force settle back upon him.

Raven heaved a sigh from below, and he heard a soft melodic reverberation as she placed the ratiuar on the floor. Qui-Gon decided he had been in bed long enough and threw back the covers, shifting down the ladder. He saw her jump and reach reflexively for either her blaster or her lightsaber. She didn't complete the move, though, once she saw it was only he.

"I forgot you were here," she confessed. "Guess I'm a little jumpy." Raven continued down to the kitchen, perching on one of the stools on the tableside of the bar. She sat sideways in it, watching him quietly, her green eyes reflective.

"Why are you jumpy?" Qui-Gon replied, pausing at the top of the staircase between the living room and kitchen. He leaned on the banister, realizing that the mood between them was still very delicate. One wrong comment on either side could bring the whole situation to a pile of rubble.

Silently, she moved around him, turning on the holovid. A concerned voice filled the room, and the picture was of a government building, belching out smoke from the side of it.

"…destroyed in an unknown blast," the commentator informed him, sounding a bit too cheerful for Qui-Gon's taste. "This is the embassy for a small cluster of stars called the Obrid system. Fortunately, none of the senators were in the embassy at the time of the blast, but a number of aides were wounded. Investigations are under way, and the tentative explanation at the moment is that a thermal detonator was left here to destroy this wing of the building. As of right now, there are no confirmed suspects, but officials…"

The voice trailed off as Raven turned off the holovid. "This happened maybe twenty minutes ago, and I turned on the vid when I saw the smoke pluming into the sky from the window. I did some looking through my own information. Valorum isn't connected to that system, although one of the other dissenters is, one by name Ins Usan. He is originally from the Obrid system. Perhaps this is a warning shot to all of the political speakers."

Qui-Gon shrugged. "Or perhaps it isn't. We don't have anything concrete to link my mission to this bombing."

Raven shrugged. "Somehow I doubt that." She glanced out the window for a moment then turned back to Qui-Gon with a grin playing on her lips. "Let's go find a little trouble."

He raised one eyebrow at her curiously, but she had already turned away to throw an over-tunic on, concealing her saber and her blaster. Then, Raven disappeared into the hallway. With a quiet groan, Qui-Gon decided that he might as well follow her.


	8. End of the Road

_End of the Road_   
  
The embassy was a short ride on one of the local commuter shuttles. Qui-Gon sat next to Raven, relaxed, trying to focus into the Force, looking for clues as to whether or not the blast was related to his mission. Beside him, he could sense Raven's tautness, as though she were prepared for an attack from any direction. He couldn't help but wonder what she was thinking or planning. Surely she wouldn't have come this far without some kind of plan for gathering information. At least, he hoped not.   
  
His mind wandered from the matter at hand for a moment to speculate on his trust in regard to her. The Jedi couldn't decide if he really trusted Raven, or if he was simply using the hospitality she had offered. It was a thorny question, one that necessitated mediation only in the fact that he couldn't separate his emotions from it. The fact that she had left the Order bothered him quite a bit, but her reason was even more grating. Many times he had found himself at odds with the Council and many times he had taken a different path than the one they had chosen. Why couldn't she have just done the same? He couldn't reconcile leaving the Order over something that simply came down to be recommendations. But perhaps that was purely against her character. Still, it made her challenging to trust.   
  
Raven touched his arm, breaking his train of thought, to indicate that they were at their stop. Qui-Gon stood and made his way to the exit, Raven following closely behind. When they were on the walkway, the pair walked side-by-side, Raven giving either verbal or physical indications as to how to get to the embassy. He didn't fail to notice that a number of times her hand would reflexively go to her side, brushing either the holster with her blaster or her lightsaber hidden beneath the folds of her over-tunic. Nothing around him gave him indications of danger, though, and he wondered if her fears were grounded. The Force was silent in regard to threats that might be surrounding them.   
  
Abruptly the pair came upon a large crowd of people being held back about a block from the embassy. Smoke could be seen on the far side of the building, darkening the sky like thunderclouds. People milled about, being held back by CorSec guards and barricades. Raven pulled Qui-Gon close. "Why don't we split up to see if we can glean anything from the crowd?" she said quietly into his ear. He nodded, and she added, "I'll take this side while you move around the other. Be careful." The last almost seemed to be an afterthought; however, Qui-Gon couldn't help but speculate again on her loyalties and where they lay.   
  
He slid through the crowd, moving easily through gaps of people. No one seemed to really be talking of anything he found useful or intriguing. Most of the conversation was speculation of the cause of the explosion, the public's views of the latest political scandal. However, none of it seemed to have anything grounded in facts or reality.   
  
It didn't take much time for Qui-Gon to reach the edge of the crowd, bordered by barricades set up by the CorSec. He stood for a few moments, watching as the building still burned at the edges, glowing from the spiky flames that licked at the metal supports usually hidden beneath the shiny exterior of the building.   
  
"It's a shame," sighed one of the guards standing a short distance away from the barricade. Another guard nearby shook his head in agreement and said something that Qui-Gon couldn't quite hear. "Is that so?" the first replied. "Well, I heard the captain say over the comm that there were some Twi'leks hanging around. He thought they might have been a part of one of the local gangs, they looked familiar. Do you think someone hired them? Sometimes gang members will sell their blasters, if they're hard up for money."   
  
The other guard visibly shrugged, making some other kind of response. Qui-Gon moved away from the barricade back into the crowd, thinking about this piece of information. Given its source, it was probably relatively reliable, although he still doubted that this incident was linked to his personal mission. He was soon back to the rear of the crowd.   
  
Qui-Gon lingered behind the people, waiting for Raven to reappear. From beneath his own cloak he pulled a datacard and began perusing its contents. This card held the specifics of his mission, details he didn't feel entirely comfortable revealing to his somewhat dubious partner. The political speaker in danger was in fact Valorum, and he had to give her credit for that guess, however educated. Threats had been received by his father, alluding to the fact that he ought to keep a tighter reign on his son. The most recent letter had been hand delivered, by a person Qui-Gon was being to suspect must have been a runner. The mission was filled with absurdities, but one of the greatest came from the fact it was printed on Alderaanian paper. The only place to get such paper on Coruscant was the Alderaanian embassy. Someone was trying to perpetrate that race. But why? The letter itself was rather unremarkable, stating that in the near future if Valorum didn't get out of the center stage, he might be permanently removed. Thus, a Jedi was sent to uncover the plot.   
  
A touch on his arm attracted his attention, and Qui-Gon found Raven on his arm. "I found out a few trails that might be useful," she told him quietly, "but unfortunately I stirred up a little trouble in the process. We need to head out." Using a gentle touch with the Force, she attracted his attention to a small group of humanoids standing in a loose circle, speaking in argumentative tones. Then one broke off, a regular-sized human with dirty blond hair and brown eyes, racing through the crowd towards Qui-Gon and Raven.   
  
"That would be our exit cue," she grinned, pulling Qui-Gon away from the crowd, taking long, running strides herself.   
  
***   
  
"What did you do?" Qui-Gon called to her as they ran along the walkway. Raven darted between people, moving in and out of small crowds to make the chase that much more difficult for their pursuer.   
  
"He's a rival of mine," Raven replied, "and I got a little too close trying to get information from his group." She was hedging the issue, but now that wasn't very important. "Here!" Raven moved to the edge of one of the walkways.   
  
"What are you doing?" he asked, a little alarm on his face. Raven ignored him, pulling out her blaster. She climbed onto the handrail, balancing carefully. From somewhere under her tunic, she produced an attachment, which she hooked onto the barrel of the blaster. Then, she released the safety and took careful aim below them. "Raven?!"   
  
The smell of ozone dissipated around them as she fired the blaster once. He could feel her through the Force guiding the hook that shot from the end of the blaster. "End of the road," she told him, turning and offering her hand. "You with?" Qui-Gon glanced down below, the towline moving in the wind between the buildings.   
  
"If you explain yourself at a later date," he said finally.   
  
She nodded, handing him the blaster. Suddenly, a bolt shot over her head, her hair nearly singed. Raven whipped around, her hand straying to her saber but then shook her head. The meaning, that they were running out of time, was clear on her face. "You jump, I'll take care of the rest. I can't hold you. You're too large. " Suddenly, he understood. She scrambled on his back, and he leapt off the walkway to the astonished gasps of onlookers as a few more bolts whizzed past them. Raven gasped, her head tucked next to his, but then she tightened her grip for the free fall.   
  
It was an exhilarating feeling as the buildings sped past. Raven watched as the rope lost the loop of slack in the middle, and then she closed her eyes and reached out into the Force. Pain burned its way through her back, where she had been hit by a bolt, but she ignored that, concentrating on their fall and slowing that descent. Raven felt a slight snap, something that would have ripped the blaster from his hands without the Force manipulation, and tightened her grip as they reached the bottom of the fall. Momentum carried them through a fast swing. Qui-Gon shifted slightly beneath her, and she felt him let go of the blaster. They fell a few more meters and landed on another walkway at least fifteen stories down. The landing itself was heavy, and beneath her, Qui-Gon rolled, sending Raven tumbling to the ground. Her back ached and was covered in sweat from her short but intense exertion.   
  
She lay in a disorderly heap, limbs sprawled, as she fought to regain her breath. Raven watched Qui-Gon stand up. He moved back to the edge of the walkway and called her blaster to him on its next swing. His hands found the recall command on the attachment, and soon the grappling hook was back on the end of the blaster, the tinges neatly sticking out of the barrel.   
  
Qui-Gon came back to kneel next to her. "That was fun," he mused, then his look turned serious when he saw the spreading damp spot on her back. His strong hands shifted the outer tunic, considerately leaving her lightsaber hidden. "A laser bolt," he muttered to himself as he pulled off his own cloak and began shredding the soft, brown fabric into strips. Ignoring the small crowd that had gathered upon their arrival, he bound her small but messy wound and asked her how she felt.   
  
"A little light-headed," Raven begrudgingly admitted. "He got in one good shot, apparently."   
  
"Explanations later," he replied, and for the first time she noticed the small group of people. "Nothing to see here," he informed them, waving his hand slightly towards the crowd. There was a murmur of disappointment, but they soon dissipated, whether or not by their own will.   
  
Qui-Gon helped her to her feet, but she faltered and almost fell. "Maybe more than a little," she amended, feeling ridiculous as he supported her. "I didn't lose that much blood," she added, more to explain the sudden weakness to herself than him.   
  
"Might be shock," he replied. "Come on, let's go back to your apartment. Then you can explain to me why we had to make that sudden exit. At least now we're even." He put one arm under her to help support her, and Raven moved slowly away with him, trying to move her back as little as possible.   
  
"Yeah, even," she said through her teeth against the pain. She'd never had such a close call before, and it left her reeling. "Guess we found our trouble," she couldn't help but add with a smile. 


	9. More Questions

_More Questions_   
  
Qui-Gon helped her up the stairs and onto one of the worn couches by carrying her, much to her chagrin. Raven felt a little humiliated to be wounded in front of him, to need his assistance in any capacity. Still, there was little else for her to do but bear it. Either way, she needed the help. The wound hurt almost unbearably now, and Raven had the distinct feeling he knew it, even though she was trying her best to shield the overwhelming thought.   
  
Quietly humming to himself, Qui-Gon instructed her to lay on her stomach. She pulled off her over tunic then watched out the window as he gently pulled her other garments up. The cut wasn't too hard to find, since there were singe marks on her other clothing, and soon he was inspecting it with cool hands on her back. "It's not really that bad," he commented, tracing the edge with his finger for her reference, "and I think your friend only hit a glancing blow. Still, it will need some bacta and rest."   
  
The injury was on Raven's left side, and it was almost on her side, a full hand's length beneath her shoulder blade. Qui-Gon pulled her to sit up and asked for a med kit and a clean sheet. Raven told him where the two things were and sat patiently, as well as a little red faced, as he bound the wound, wrapping long strips of the sheet around her middle over a bacta-soaked piece of gauze. In the Temple, a certain level of comfort was maintained about the subject of nudity, making things such as binding inconveniently located wounds or personal hygiene in the field easier than it would otherwise be. Still, she hadn't been in the Temple recently and was a little unnerved about the process.   
  
Raven began to stand, and Qui-Gon kindly told her to stay put. A little annoyed, she requested a clean tunic and undertunic, as well as another pair of leggings. A playful grin spread across the Jedi's face as he fetched the items, but he politely busied himself with something superficial as she changed in the middle of the living room, having been rebuked again for trying to move somewhere more private. She handed him the bloodied garments, and he put them in a water bath to soak in the refresher.   
  
Qui-Gon moved her to lie comfortably on the larger couch and then sat on the other. "So was the information you found worth it?" he asked. He sat a little stiffly although with an amused look on his face, as though also unsure how to think about what had just occurred.   
  
Raven shook her head and gave a weak laugh. "I hope. I'm sure that with other information it will be. Why don't you go first, since you weren't gone as long."   
  
Qui-Gon shrugged and abruptly sat back, settling himself into the couch. "I overheard the CorSec talking. Apparently there were a few Twi'leks hanging around that morning. Their chief thought they looked familiar and might have been part of a local gang. That was all I found."   
  
"That makes sense," she replied, "and helps to justify my story. I was talking with a few of my associates, and they said the same thing, only that the Ch'ean gang had been hired to 'make a disturbance' in the area by someone. That group has a number of Twi'leks, actually. One of them was concerned that his friends would be perpetrated for the blast, even though they were only distracting. I wish I knew who hired them to front!"   
  
"Calm down," Qui-Gon said soothingly, watching with concern as she made frustrated gestures, "you'll ruin my handiwork. So what was the problem with your associate with the blaster?"   
  
Raven laughed. "They all have blasters. Anyway, he and I aren't on good terms to begin with. I began asking questions about the gang, and he wanted to know if I was working for a CorSec. I replied no, but I doubt he believed me. Some of my questions must have danced a little too close to some of his runs, and I guess he just decided it would be easier to silence me."   
  
"What did you ask?"   
  
"I asked were the Twi'leks were from, which told me about the gang's involvement. I also asked if he'd had any good lifts recently. The answer to that was yes, but then he got uncomfortable and ended the discussion. He must suspect I'm either gathering information for myself or someone else. I also asked about if there were other people hanging around, but no one knew the answer. I think it was an inside job with the Twi'leks as a diversion. If someone owned a Twi'lek, it would be easy enough to get her in to lay the detonator, leaving the Ch'ean to pick up the backlash, especially if no one was close enough to the Twi'lek to say whether she was or was not in the gang."   
  
Qui-Gon nodded in agreement. "But who hired the Ch'ean?"   
  
Raven shrugged. "Answer that, and you may have the key to your mission," she replied.   
  
"We haven't connected the two yet," he chided gently.   
  
"Yet," she echoed, "but I'm guessing someone didn't just arbitrarily hit that building." The Jedi had to agree with that reasoning, albeit a little unwillingly. Everything still was a little too disjointed for his tastes.   
  
"You're probably right," he conceded, kicking off his boots to lie on the couch. He heaved a sigh, seeing a lot of thought ahead of him. Qui-Gon needed to find the connection between Valorum and the Obrid System. Then, it might make sense.   
  
***   
  
The apartment echoed with silence when Qui-Gon got up from the couch. Raven lay on the couch. Initially, she had put herself in a healing trance, although he now suspected that she was simply asleep, having come out of the trance. He had located a blanket and draped it over her. From the few mental probes he had done, she was in a deep sleep, probably one brought on from the exertions of the morning and the strain of remaining in a healing trance for a long period of time.   
  
He still couldn't make any realistic connections between the events of the morning and the information he already had. A little frustrated, he had finally come up with a plan of attack. Raven and her street smarts were a blessing, but sometimes information that is a little more concrete was needed. He produced his comm link and keyed the number for the Temple.   
  
"Hello, how may I help you?" a sugary voice asked from his comm. Qui-Gon rolled his eyes. Initiates were customarily the dispatches on the Temple link, but they still were a little wet behind the ears for his tastes. He could be in the middle of a battle right now for all the voice on the other end knew!   
  
"Archives, please," he replied evenly.   
  
"Just a moment." Qui-Gon moved to the bunk and climbed the latter to sit on the bed and lean against one of the walls. Then, a new voice appeared, one that was much more sedate.   
  
"Knight Emor here. What can I do for you?" Qui-Gon smiled to himself. It was a friend of his, one that usually spent most of his time in the Archives. He would be as helpful as possible, understanding that he needed obscure information as well as the obvious.   
  
"Hey, Bielat, this is Qui-Gon. I need you to do a little research for me, if you have a moment."   
  
A smile was evident in the other's voice. "You out in the field?" he laughed. "Well, it just so happens that I can because there are three other people here to answer incoming calls. What can I find for you?"   
  
"I need information on Alderaan and anyone who might have a grudge against them. I think that embassy is being framed. I also need information on the Obrid system and how it might connect to either Senator Valorum or his son, the political speaker Finis. One last thing. There was a student at the Temple. Her last name was either Darkfeather or Suul. Her first name was either Raven or Ash. She defected from the Temple a few years ago. I need all the information on her you have."   
  
"A defected Jedi? Will do. I'll have the files to you as soon as I can."   
  
"Thanks, Bielat. Out of curiosity, when can I expect this?"   
  
"Give me three hours at the earliest. I can give you some preliminary stuff at the least and then add to it later if you like."   
  
"Sounds good. Until then. Thanks again for the favor."   
  
"You owe me one," Bielat Emor laughed, and then the comm clicked, indicating he'd closed the channel.   
  
Qui-Gon put away his commlink and lay down on the bed. He closed his eyes and reached out with his senses. From what the Jedi could tell, Raven was in a very deep sleep, one she was not likely to come out of before Knight Emor returned his call. Beyond that, Qui-Gon could feel the Living Force moving into what seemed like an ebb, almost regressing from the flurry of activity and emotions from the morning. Qui-Gon worked to exchange his own emotions and perceptions for the insight of the Force. He continued his meditation for sometime, and when he had finished it, he too succumbed to a deep sleep, swept away by the lethargy of the early afternoon. 


	10. Taking the Bait

_Taking the Bait_   
  
The insistent buzz of his commlink made the Jedi jump, a little disoriented for a moment. He glanced down a level, noting that Raven was still asleep or at least appeared to be. Judging from the sunlight pouring through the buildings onto the floor, it was late afternoon or early evening. Qui-Gon fetched his commlink, thumbing it on. "Jinn here."   
  
"Hey, Qui-Gon, I got the information you requested," Bielat's voice came over the comm. "Listen, I have to run, so I'll just send it to you, as well as my own personal link if you need anything else. I'm usually working in the Archives any way. Best of luck."   
  
"Thanks again, Emor. May the Force be with you."   
  
"You too." The signal was cut, and then it clicked again, indicating the arrival of a file. Qui-Gon quickly downloaded it to a chip and put the chip into his datapad. He was pleased to find that Bielat had uncovered a wealth of information, even though he wasn't sure how much of it would be useful.   
  
Curiosity got the best of him, and Qui-Gon went straight to the file on Raven. Her name was really Raven Suul. He was a little surprised at the face that looked back at him. It was hers, though a little more filled out and with longer hair. For a moment, Qui-Gon speculated the life she had had before she arrived here, with the income of a runner. Perhaps that wasn't even that reliable, though. It gave the usual stats, her height and weight at last check, her planet of origin, age, race, as well as the records of her training. It listed the classes she had taken, her master, the date of her knighting ceremony, as well as comments from some of her teachers, as well as personal achievements, placements in the sparring competitions, and summaries of her mission and other general commentary.   
  
He looked it over, intrigued to find that she was pretty much an average padawan. She was five years older than he, twenty-nine to his twenty-four. Qui-Gon was also surprised to find that she had won the sparring contest at the last competition. More impressive, she had competed in a weight class above her own, possibly taking on knights 50 kilograms heavier than she. He felt a newfound respect within himself for her.   
  
The file also said that she had left under indistinct circumstances, Jedi-speak for she left the Order of her own will and perhaps to the discontent of the Council. On paper, she was a fine Knight and a loss to the Order. Qui-Gon couldn't help if there was something else to her leaving. All of it seemed rather incomplete to him. There was no reference to her visiting the Council before she defected, which he assumed was standard procedure.   
  
The general commentary was rather interesting. It had regular updates of her training, presumably filled out by her master. They were typical for a padawan, mishaps and mistakes made, punishments administered and points that deserved commendations. Her life, as presented on the datapad, was rather uneventful. He had expected something more from the existence of a person who had eventually left twenty-four years of Jedi training to do something else.   
  
The information on Alderaan and the Obrid system were actually somewhat helpful. Apparently, the Obrid system had had some very controversial internal problems that the datapad didn't elaborate upon. The matter was discussed with much heat in the Galactic Senate, and in the end, many systems put embargoes upon the system, indicating the displeasure with whatever had occurred. Alderaan continued to provide vital goods, mainly food, to the people, showing compassion towards them. This had angered many other planets, namely Corellia. Relations deteriorated between Alderaan and Corellia to the point of almost petty name-calling. So, if Corellia, or a representative thereof, wasn't behind the attacks, it would be easy enough to frame the planet.   
  
The information on the father and son was somewhat more random. Bielat had been kind enough to cross reference Senator Valorum's stand on the Obrid issue. A rather dry speech given by the senator was in the datapad, and it seemed to imply that Valorum thought the actions taken against the Obrid system were a little harsh. However, he did denote that some kind of punishment, in his eyes, was necessary. The article went on to compare that calm statement to fiery opinion's expressed by Finis. In the streets, the younger Valorum called for compassion in the Senate. Finis had even managed to draw the attention of a local influence by the name of Nathaniel Younam. Although it didn't say what exactly he did, the implication was he was a power among the gangs or perhaps a smuggler. Whatever his occupation, it was illegal, and he was not happy about Valorum's statements.   
  
The rest was rather blasé information on the senator about votes and such within the Senate. Qui-Gon read through those reports then deactivated the pad, tossing it across the bed. His closed his eyes, reaching out into the Force. Nothing there really helped him, except to give him a feeling that he had all the pieces. Now, he just had to fit them together. The problem was knowing where to start. The Jedi opened his eyes and regarded the sleeping figure on the couch. He was beginning to believe there was no such thing as chance.   
  
***   
  
Later that evening, Raven was up and relatively mobile, having found much good from the bacta and her meditation. She was drifting in the kitchen, humming tunelessly to herself, as she made something for dinner. Qui-Gon sat at the table, contemplating and asking questions of Raven, trying to find a link. "So, you suspect Boeta? The Corellian senator?"   
  
"He usually seems to have his nose in anything foul," she replied, her hands busy with food preparations. Qui-Gon watched her, wondering not for the first time if she really ought to be moving around so much. He could see that her movements were stiff and greatly controlled. Still, she was stubborn, and a discussion over it wouldn't be worth the energy in the end. He let it go.   
  
"I can't find a link," he replied. "What does your friend S'rmen smuggle again? Maybe there's a key in that."   
  
Raven glanced up from the countertop. "He smuggles food," she replied, her tone indicating that she didn't understand what relevance that had. "Mostly he does it to avoid tariffs, but sometimes he's a blockade runner as well."   
  
Qui-Gon sat up a little. "Food? What blockades has he run?"   
  
"I don't know. I've never asked," she replied. "Why? What does this have to do with the bombing and Valorum?"   
  
"The Obrid system had some internal problems that made other planets angry, correct?" The Jedi stood up, stroking his beard in consideration.   
  
"To my knowledge, yes. The Galactic Senate was in an uproar for some time about it. There were even some systems who imposed blockades…" Raven stopped, the food forgotten. "All right, so whom might have S'rmen run blockades for?"   
  
Qui-Gon smiled. "Smart girl," he teased. "Perhaps he ran the blockades for Alderaan, one of the few systems that would still sell them supplies, despite the general animosity towards the situation there."   
  
"And that might explain the bombing of S'rmen's ship…" Raven said quietly.   
  
Suddenly, the door to her loft swung open, making a loud crash against the opposite wall. Raven had her blaster out of its holster before the door had begun to rebound, the safety off and the barrel trained towards the doorway. Mentally, Raven berated herself for leaving it unlocked. Both she and Qui-Gon had been too involvement in ministering her wound to think about it, and by the time they discussed the morning, both had forgotten.   
  
Ava stumbled in, her face red and streaked with tears. Raven put her blaster down and motioned Qui-Gon to relax. He must have pulled and activated his saber in that short moment. She moved to embrace the other woman, wrapping her arms around the shorter, pregnant frame of her friend. Copelan appeared in the doorway, holding Lian and looking very afraid. Nara stood next to him, almost hiding in her older brother's shadow.   
  
Gently, Raven brushed Ava's hair out of her face. "What's the matter Ava?" she asked. "What's wrong?" Qui-Gon sat back down at the table, surreptitiously turning off and stacking the datacards. Raven motioned for the children to come in. Ava shook beneath her arms, her small frame wracked by sobs. She maneuvered her to one of the stools along the bar then shut the door.   
  
"He's gone!" Ava cried, burying her head in her hands again. Her shoulders continued to shake, even though she made no more noise. Raven knelt before the other woman, warmly pulling Ava's hands into her own.   
  
"I can't help you unless you tell me what's going on, Ava," Raven replied soothingly.   
  
Ava swallowed hard and looked at the children. Immediately, the Rogue understood. The mother didn't want to frighten them any more than they already were. "Hey, Copelan, Nara and Lian," she said, hoping the children would understand. Raven knew that Qui-Gon would catch on quickly. "Why don't you show my friend Joshua the model Nubian ships I got you?" Copelan nodded solemnly, and Raven felt her stomach twist in slight betrayal. He knew that they were being gotten rid of so the adults could talk.   
  
"All right, Ash," he said quietly, beckoning to the unfamiliar face in the room. Qui-Gon stood up and gave Raven an inscrutable look as he passed by, one she couldn't read at the moment. She worked to control her emotions, her instincts and the Force pressing that something had gone terribly wrong.   
  
"Dane's gone," Ava said again, choking on a sob that again wracked her frame. "He was taken while at work. Why would someone want to kidnap him?"   
  
"I don't know," Raven lied, apprehension settling into the pit of her stomach. "Do you know exactly what happened?" She gently squeezed the other woman's hands, sending soothing waves through the Force.   
  
"The people at the embassy called and said he'd been kidnapped, taken at blaster point. They had to let him go, or they would have killed others in the embassy." A note of panic had crept into her voice, and abruptly Ava yanked one of her hands out of Raven's to cradle her protruding stomach.   
  
"Availle, you have to listen to me. I know this will be hard, but you have to calm yourself down. I don't want you sending yourself into premature labor. You have to collect yourself for the children. Can you answer a few more questions for me?" Raven placed one hand on her friend's knee. She knew how she could calm Ava down, but she didn't really want to use the Force compulsion on her friend. Although she doubted that it would harm the unborn child within her, the rogue didn't really want to risk it. Still, it was quickly becoming the best option.   
  
"Sure," Ava replied diffidently, tears still streaming down her face. She looked away, as though embarrassed by her emotional moment. Her hand seemed to convulse, squeezing Raven's tightly for a moment, and the rogue watched her friend's face contort, failing at controlling her emotions. She sighed, knowing now was the time.   
  
"Come on," Raven sighed, pulling Ava from the stool and moving her to the couch that she herself had occupied not to long ago. Her back hurt a little, but she ignored the sensation and the mild ache of pain. There was work to be done, and she could deal with that later.   
  
Ava curled into a fetal position, looking to Raven like an abandoned child. "I don't know what I'd do without him, Ash," she moaned quietly. "You have to find him for me, help me fix this mess."   
  
"I know, Ava, I know," Raven said in low tones. Lightly, she brushed her friend's arm with her hand, carefully applying a light pressure on Ava's shoulder. She closed her eyes, reaching out into the Force. Raven found strands of comfort and calm and through her physical contact, she guided the threads towards her friend, ensnaring her tumultuous emotions into them. The same way, she removed the scattered, painful thoughts, leaving only the calm. All this happened in an instant, but the exertion drained Ava, who was not used to such Force manipulations. She fell into a shallow sleep, one that she would wake up from in a short amount of time.   
  
Raven stood slowly, her mind racing to figure the situation out. She knew one thing for certain, though; someone knew she was investigating the recent occurrences, and this person was setting a trap. The net was being tightened, with Dane as the bait. She sat on the arm of the other couch, looking as Ava slept on. The worst part was, she had to go for the bait. Her own life, she could stand to ruin, but she couldn't do that to Ava and her children. Ava had what Raven could never really understand or have; love and family, two concepts her entire upbringing had taught her to deny. She wouldn't ruin that for Ava and Dane, even if her own life was the price she'd have to pay. 


	11. Two Ways

_Two Ways_   
  
When Qui-Gon returned, Raven had many implements spread out on her table. She glanced up when he entered, her face impassive and stony. Ava had gone back to her own apartment, somewhat soothed by Raven's ministrations and her promises to do what she could. "She may be back soon," the rogue told him, turning back to her study of the things on the table. Methodically, she was looking through them and placing some of them in holders or pouches on her belt. "I need to finish this before she does."   
  
"What are you doing?" he inquired, although Qui-Gon was fairly confident he already knew the answer.   
  
"I'm going to rescue Dane," she replied evenly. Her hands found a silencer attachment for her blaster, and she withdrew the weapon, fitting it onto the barrel before replacing it.   
  
"I can think of two immediate problems with that," Qui-Gon countered, moving to stand directly in front of her. Raven looked up, a stray lock of her falling in her face as she looked defiantly at him. "One, you are injured. Two, unless Ava knows something she wasn't letting onto with me in the room, you don't know where you are going."   
  
"You're not going to stop me, Qui-Gon," Raven replied, still looking into his gray-blue eyes. "This is something I have to do, and the more time I waste discussing it with you, the more danger Dane is in. I put him there, and I won't do that to him. Or to Ava." She removed a few of the unused pouches on her belt and swung it around her hips. Then, she began putting the other things on the table away into the extra pouches.   
  
"Hang on a second, Raven. I have some information that might make this effort a little more reasonable. I don't want to see you killed. You're a good ally, and I may need your help completely my mission before this is all over. Besides, I think Dane is a part of it. And the Obrid blast."   
  
Raven looked up. "Enlighten me," she replied dryly, stacking the bulging pouches and beginning to put them away in drawers built into the wall supporting the second level.   
  
"Our assassin-attracter is connected to the Obrid system, as you predicted. Seems, when they had some controversial internal strife, he spoke out against embargoes placed by various other systems against the Obridians. Alderaan at least seemed to heed his advice, whether it was intentional or not, being the only planet to give the Obrid system aid. It also seems that that royally irritated Corellia. There, three links in a row, am I correct? Now what am I missing?"   
  
"You've connected Corellia, the Obrid System, and Valorum. However, I don't understand what the connection with Alderaan matters, except that Dane was kidnapped from their embassy. You're talking information, but you must know something I don't."   
  
Qui-Gon grinned a little impishly. "Actually, I do. The original threat sent to Finis's father was printed on Alderaanian paper, something one can only get at the embassy. So, the logical thought is that someone is either very sloppy with his death threats, or Alderaan is being perpetrated."   
  
Raven's eyes widened. "And each step is closer to Finis himself. S'rmen's ship was probably a warning, if he did run blockades for Alderaan and Obrid. That wasn't enough of a warning, so he moved into the Obrid system. Kidnapping Dane is probably no fluke, given his connection to me, and the fact he works at the Alderaanian embassy is an added bonus. He's probably getting close to Finis now, that being the next logical step, and using Dane to frame Alderaan. But who is behind this? It wouldn't be Boeta, because he's not that patently stupid. Bombing an embassy is too far for him, although I'm sure he owns a Twi'lek, making the plant easy enough. Maybe the Ch'ean is the key."   
  
The Jedi thought for a moment, furrowing his brow. "Does the name Nathaniel Younam ring a bell?"   
  
"Sith," Raven swore. "You've got it. Nat is essentially in charge of the Ch'ean. He's probably manipulated Boeta into providing him funds to pull of this little assassination by fronting the credits, the Twi'lek who planted the thermal detonator, as well as funding the attack on S'rmen's ship."   
  
"Nat? This fellow seems rather powerful for a simple gang member, manipulating senators. You also sound like you know him well."   
  
Raven gave him a startled look, one that was full of irony and aversion. "You've met him. He's the one who placed the blaster bolt in my back this morning. And he's not powerful because he's a simple gang member. He's the leader of the Ch'ean because he's a rogue. Unfortunately, he's not quite as sentimental about his days in the Temple as I am." Raven moved to a drawer and produced a full-length cloak, the one she had worn the first day he met her. She swung it over her shoulders.   
  
"So Sith isn't an entirely inaccurate word," the Jedi commented wryly. "Where are you going now?"   
  
"More so than Jedi," Raven replied. "I'm going to the Alderaanian embassy to track Dane, because Nat is probably still two steps ahead of us. And you're coming with me."   
  
"Why is that?" Qui-Gon replied, amused. There really wasn't any question to the truth of her statement, just the way she stated it.   
  
Raven looked at him, no amusement on her own face. "There are only two ways to kill a Jedi, at least according to popular consensus from people who ought to know. Those ways are to overpower him with numbers or to lull him into a false sense of security. I figure we're going to need all the cunning and skill between us since we have neither advantage. Dark Jedi play dirty, even more so than rogues." 


	12. Away

_Away_   
  
The woman sitting at the receptionist's desk at the embassy stood, her face shocked when Raven strode in, Qui-Gon close on her heels. She sputtered something, although Raven cut her off. "I'm a friend of Dane's, and I'd like to see his office," she said quietly, waving her fingers for emphasis. The woman closed her mouth, her expression looking slightly unhappy, and gestured for them to follow.   
  
Once in the room, the woman left them at Raven's request. Then, the rogue began to look around the room, focusing on small, personal effects. She closed her eyes in the middle of the room, and Qui-Gon felt her reach out into the Force, tracing something he couldn't follow. When her green eyes opened again, Raven took off with purpose, leaving the office again.   
  
"What are you doing?" he couldn't help but asking.   
  
Raven gave him a playful smile. "It's called sniffing. I doubt that was a part of your training at the Temple."   
  
Qui-Gon frowned slightly, following her as she led the way back out of the embassy. "What exactly did you do at the Temple?" he couldn't help but ask.   
  
"I was a member of the Intelligence Corps," she replied. Qui-Gon raised his eyebrows slightly, his face flickering for a moment with surprise. Perhaps that was why her file was so nondescript. It wouldn't do to have Intelligence members' files marked with obvious achievements, should there ever be a breach in the security of the Archives. Qui-Gon's line of thought was broken as Raven's sense reached out beyond him again, and the Jedi waited for her to find the trail again. "He was afraid," she murmured to herself, "but defiant. He knew why they had come for him." Then she walked swiftly down the walkway.   
  
They twisted in and out of alleys, making their way towards the sector beyond the Senatorial one. Often Raven would mutter to herself, reflecting on the moods she could feel still in the Force. He was amazed and tried to reach out himself to find such small traces that she was following. Whenever he tried this, she would get a tight smile on her face. He could never sense what she could.   
  
Qui-Gon lost count of the number of turns they made. Then, she stopped in front of a dilapidated structure, an old warehouse by appearances. "He's in here," she said softly, "many levels below."   
  
"How did you do that?" Qui-Gon asked in return.   
  
She smiled enigmatically again. "The first key is the fact I know him much better than you. The second is that it was part of my Intelligence training. Gathering information is much easier when you can tail the person who gives you leads."   
  
Qui-Gon nodded. "Shall we go in, then?"   
  
"Do you want to be the rear guard, or would you like me to?" she replied. He watched as she methodically checked both her blaster and its silencer attachment and her lightsaber for availability.   
  
"I'll lead, I suppose. I can at least find sentient life forms in buildings," he countered wryly.   
  
Raven smiled back, easing some of the tension that had settled in her face from her pursuit. "Lead away then," she whispered, "and may the force be with us."   
  
***   
  
Raven's back had begun to ache again, but she took great pains to ignore it. Instead, a musical theme was running through her head, something she must have heard somewhere, quiet, creepy music that seemed to fit the mood as she followed Qui-Gon through the damp, badly lit building. Shards of glass from broken illumination banks were scattered on the floor, as well as broken beams from supports and frames of windows or doors. Someone had passed through her recently, that much Raven could tell, but she didn't know him well.   
  
The rogue fingered her lightsaber hilt. Her entire body was tensed, ready for some kind of attack, but nothing happened. Qui-Gon moved sure-footedly in front of her, and they made their way deeper into the bowels of the city, places that probably hadn't seem much sentient life.   
  
They came into a huge room with a high, vaulted ceiling. Raven felt her breath catch in her throat. The room had furniture, though the damp had begun to deteriorate what must have been rich wood at some point. Diffused light came from windows lining the far wall of the room, their grimy, fogged surfaces casting a grayish pallor to the room. It illuminated the rotting wood, as well as older furniture that had fallen or been broken apart. The floor was filled with obstacles, piles of forgotten things and rumpled rugs, memories of someone's life long gone, as well as a huge banquet table dominating the middle of the room. The room must have been an old gathering place or part of a mansion, long forgotten and built over. Something about the room appealed to her, its antiquated majesty and disused purpose.   
  
A split second later, Raven noticed him. In the far corner of the room, beyond what she could see in the dim light, she could sense Dane, dazed and mildly frightened. He was also bound and probably gagged. The odd thing was, there wasn't another person in the room. Whoever brought him here had left him, and probably not just because they became tired of carrying him.   
  
Raven touched Qui-Gon's shoulder. "It's a trap," she whispered as softly as she could. The sound seemed to echo in the quiet chamber. "Dane's over in the corner, a little dazed. They must have knocked him out to get him here."   
  
"Or just recently moved him," Qui-Gon replied as quietly. "How about this? Same drill as this morning, you circle around the right side, and I'll take the left. We'll meet at Dane. Here, do you have your comm? Good. This is the number for mine. If you find major trouble, use the commlink. If we don't have time…" He trailed off and shrugged.   
  
Raven could fill in the rest of that thought. Even though they both were trained in the Jedi Arts, communication between two minds that weren't intimately familiar was very taxing and difficult. If necessity dictating, it could be used. However, that might cause more damage. "We get Dane and get out then?"   
  
The Jedi shrugged. "Depends on how easy this is. My mission is to remove the threat on Valorum, and if this doesn't go well, I may not get a second chance. It'd be nice to apprehend Younam."   
  
"Understood. It's that time then. May the Force be with you," she said, beginning to move away.   
  
"And with you, Raven," Qui-Gon replied, watching her go for a moment. The thought crossed his mind that she was more a Jedi at heart that some of the Knights within the Temple itself. She gave freely of herself, with no thought of her gain. The rogue wasn't afraid of confronting wrongs as she could. The sense of trust that he'd had since she'd rescued him from the CorSec welled up within him again, even stronger, he wondered about her leaving the Temple. Abruptly, he brought himself back to the task at hand. Later would be the time for speculation.\ 


	13. A Jedi No Longer

_A Jedi No Longer?_   
  
Carefully, Raven crept across the room, trying to stay within the shadows. The debris was thicker on the sides of the room, and she had to place her feet carefully to avoid making noise or even twisting her ankle. The room was painfully quiet, and the rogue couldn't even hear the movements of Qui-Gon. Dane was silent, at least to her ears, as well, although he hadn't made any noise to begin with. Something bothered her though. Her mind for details went over what she knew about Nat, and this quiet, seemingly empty room didn't quite seem to be his style. She would have suspected something a bit flashier from him.   
  
Raven was almost to the corner of the room when she noticed it was significantly darker. The nearly full-length windows reminded her of her own loft, and through them, despite their layers of dirt and grim, she could see that night had almost fallen. This side of the room was, in comparison to the other, much brighter, which made it considerably more difficult for Raven to stay within the cover of the shadows. She squatted onto her haunches to rest for a moment and consider the best way to get to the corner opposite her, where she could sense Dane sitting. He was hidden behind some fragments, far enough into the shadows that he wasn't visible.   
  
Abruptly, an explosion roared from the other side of the room, shaking the floor and knocking Raven's feet out from under her. A bright flash accompanied the noise, temporarily blinding her. Dimly, Raven could see a plume of vapor erupt from the spot the flash was a moment before, and then it filled the room with a chalky white fog that chilled Raven's skin.   
  
_So that's the catch,_ she thought dismally to herself. Raven shifted fluidly to her feet, frustrated to find that the fog extended well over her head. The smell of it was somewhat medicinal, and a sinking feeling settled itself into her stomach. She recognized that smell. In fact, it had been used on her before. The fog was some kind of sedative. Even as she made that logical deduction, the room was beginning to spin. Raven crouched back down towards the floor, hoping that the fog was less dense than air. Then, she began to make her way towards the table.   
  
She estimated she was about halfway there when a groan permeated the fog. The sound seemed to come from somewhere in front of her, although Raven couldn't be sure. The fog was beginning to take a toll on her senses, making even the act reaching out into the Force a challenge. She tried to avoid it totally, knowing she would just act as a homing beacon in her state.   
  
Once under the table, she slipped off her cloak. That already had soaked in some of the scent from the fog. Quickly, Raven pulled off her outer tunic and turned it inside out, pressing the formerly unexposed fabric to her mouth and nose. Almost immediately, she felt better. Her senses were clearer, and she felt more in control of herself.   
  
With the cloth pressed up to her nose, Raven reached out with her senses to the room beyond the table. She could feel Qui-Gon some distance away, although he was unconscious and somewhat wounded. His mind was confused and distant. The Rogue decided that he must have inadvertently triggered whatever it was that had released the sedative fog. Given the speed at which the fog had dispersed, he probably had been thrown a short distance from wherever the trap had been set.   
  
Dane was also still in the room, although he was also knocked out. Raven sat for a moment, considering the next best move when she felt a familiar presence approach the large, dilapidated room. Nat was coming to collect his prey. Reaching into the Force, Raven worked to create what was the Force-equivalent to white noise, masking her own presence with others. She knew that it may not even work, but she would be no use whatsoever if she couldn't maintain the element of surprise against Nat. Qui-Gon was in danger though, lying in the middle of the dark room, completely unable to defend himself. Raven knew that there would be light soon, as well as other people.   
  
As if to confirm her suspicions, something mechanical rumbled above her, and she watched as the fog around the floor swirled, eventually beginning to dissipate. It took maybe ten minutes for the room to become clear again. Raven gave a soft sigh, preparing herself for the confrontation that would inevitably follow.   
  
***   
  
"It's all clear now, sir," a voice echoed hauntingly in the room. It was then flooded with lights, making Raven blink with slight pain. She still hunched under the table, and her back was beginning to stiffen and protest because of her position. Clatters from a pair of boots made their way along the side of the table towards Qui-Gon. The black boots then paused next to her friend's inert form. "Looks like he was either knocked out by the initial explosion or overpowered by that gas."   
  
With the lights on, Raven could see Qui-Gon's face and part of his side. His left leg had a damp, red splotch that was slowly growing, as well as cuts on his face, arms, and torso. There must have been shrapnel within the gas detonator. He seemed to be fine other than the leg wound and having been knocked out. Raven swallowed, wondering what Nat had planned. It wouldn't be good, in any case.   
  
The boots moved away as Nat's lackey walked towards where she had sensed Dane. She watched him move towards a larger pile of old furniture. "The Alderaanian is still here. I would have thought the second intruder would have taken him."   
  
"No, she's still here," Nat's deep voice echoed from the far side of the room. "I'm not sure where, because she is masking herself, but she never left. She won't leave either."   
  
"She?" the other voice inquired dubiously. He moved back towards Nat's voice, stepping over Qui-Gon as if he were tempted to kick the defenseless Jedi. "How are you so sure?"   
  
"I know," Nat replied a little contemptuously. "That's all you need to understand. Kill the Jedi," he added casually.   
  
"Yes, sir," the other voice replied. Raven darted out from under the table, grabbing and activating her lightsaber in one fluid movement. She deflected the two blaster bolts shot from Nat's companion, sending them harmlessly into one of the corners of the room. Surprise registered on the other's face, and he glanced down at his blaster, as though the deflections were caused by some malfunction of it. Then, he glanced back to Nat, who was still near the doorway.   
  
"Nice of you to join us," the blond-haired man said sweetly, his blue eyes glittering malevolently. "I figured that would coax you out of hiding. You haven't seemed to have lost your touch either." He shifted slightly, moving forward fluidly. He was wearing very fine clothes, obviously tailored to his well-built body   
  
Raven kept her face blank and deactivated her pure white blade. "You either," she replied. "I'm not surprised to see that you still prey on those weaker than you."   
  
"Oh," he pouted contemptuously, "temper, temper, Raven. We don't want fireworks just yet."   
  
"You have no right to chide me for keeping my temper, Nat," Raven said evenly.   
  
"Right, I forgot I was speaking to the poster child for the Jedi Order. But I forgot, you aren't a Jedi any longer." His lip curled into a vicious smile.   
  
"You can't goad me into attack that way. You ought to know that. Besides, I certainly left on better terms than you."   
  
Nathaniel's face changed to show masked anger. The other man glanced at his superior then turned and fired on her. Raven easily activated her saber and deflected the bolts away from her and Qui-Gon. "All right, enough small talk. I'm taking C'xon and my companion here, and we're leaving," Raven said very businesslike, shooting a look to the man with the blaster.   
  
Nat shrugged in return. "I'm afraid it's not that easy. You see, this man here thinks I have a right to them. In addition to that, I've already made plans for our Alderaanian friend. Your companion there also presents a certain allure, given what he is and what I could do with him."   
  
"I can't let you do that," she shrugged. "Old habits die hard, eh?"   
  
The fallen Jedi sneered. "You were always difficult." He produced his own lightsaber and then smiled again. "Now this looks familiar. When did we stand like this before?"   
  
Raven shifted positions, still in front of Qui-Gon. "I believe it was the last competition in the Temple," she said softly, almost reluctantly.   
  
"That's right," he replied. "As I recall, you beat me, even though I wasn't in your weight class. In fact, you took that class's title, isn't that true?"   
  
"You were there," Raven answered.   
  
"You're right. I think it's time to rewrite history." Nat then darted forward and struck with his saber. 


	14. One Last Defiance

_One Last Defiance_   
  
Only instinct saved Raven from becoming one with the Force in that moment. Her hand activated her own saber and moved to block his purple blade before she completely comprehended what had happened. Nat grimaced at her between the blades, his eyes glinting angrily. He shoved on his saber handle, forcing her back.   
  
Raven shifted just far enough to regain her footing, parrying the next harsh blow he dealt her. The force of the hit sent tremors up her arm. She blocked the next few hits, mentally making calculations. Qui-Gon was about three steps behind her, and Raven didn't want Nat to get between her and him. From what she could quickly discern of his state, he would be conscious soon, although that vague term could range anywhere from ten to fifty minutes. Another blow brought her back to the fight. Regardless of the Jedi's state, it wouldn't matter if she didn't keep Nat at bay somehow.   
  
Switching to the offensive, Raven tried to score her own hits. Nat seemed surprised, allowing himself to be driven back to the edge of the table, about six meters from Qui-Gon. However, Raven doubted the authenticity of that movement. That man never did anything without leaving himself a way out. He had been that way in the Temple, and Raven knew that he hadn't changed much since he'd left.   
  
They came to another momentary deadlock, blades hissing against one another, when Nat applied abrupt, hard pressure against her hand. Raven stumbled backwards, tripping over a piece of furniture to slam painfully against the floor. Stars appeared in her eyes, but now she understood. Nat advanced, towering over her to finish the battle.   
  
Raven kicked out, catching his ankles with her foot. Nathaniel came crashing down, his saber clattering away. He twisted, calling it back to his hand, but Raven had already leapt back to her feet and onto the table. The wood groaned against her weight but held firm.   
  
"You can't win," Nat spat. Blood flecked his lip where he had landed, giving him a demonic look. He wiped at his mouth with cuff of his tunic sleeve, reactivating his saber. "I learned from our first spar. This will be your last."   
  
"So you say," Raven replied. She moved towards him on the tabletop, her boots echoing on the wood. "But didn't you ever listen to Master Yoda? 'Always changing, the future is,' so there is a possibility that I may survive this encounter."   
  
A slow smile crossed his face. "Then let us add another death to your conscious. Perhaps that will take the defiance from you. You can't win, Raven Suul, and I think you should suffer another loss." He moved away from the table, heading for Qui-Gon.   
  
Raven took three long steps to the edge of the table and leapt, landing in a crouch between Nat and Qui-Gon. She whirled, her lightsaber in front of her, blocking Nathaniel's path. "I've put that behind me," she replied, "but I will not let you take the life of another to suit your whims. Not while there is still breath in my body."   
  
"That's the idea."   
  
The pair exchanged more blows, and Raven managed to score the first actual hit. Nat grimaced against the burn and withdrew a short distance. She followed, trading hard strike for hard strike. They were a short distance away when a flicker of movement on the periphery of her vision caught her attention. The other man, Nat's accomplice, was taking careful aim with his blaster, sights on Qui-Gon.   
  
Raven kept her lightsaber in her right hand, fending off Nat as best she could. Bringing her left hand around in front of her, she withdrew her own blaster from its holster. Haphazardly, she aimed in the direction on the accomplice and shot, letting the Force do the fine tuning of her aim. The bolt caught the other man right as he shot, sending the blast from his blaster up into the ceiling, where it hit a light bank and sent sparks raining down on them. The man crumpled soundlessly to the floor.   
  
One spark singed her shoulder, and she watched as another caught Nathaniel on his saber arm. He growled a menacing curse and drove towards her, his strength fueled by his anger. Raven struggled to keep up, the tension in her back suddenly becoming almost too much to bear.   
  
Then she felt it. Qui-Gon's awareness was seeping back to him, and he was sending out tendrils into the Force, deducing the situation. Raven divided her attention, giving him her view of the room, as well as the current situation with Nat. She knew that it wouldn't be long before the pain overpowered her now, for her attention was too divided between the battle, Qui-Gon, and ignoring it.   
  
Nat caught the blade of her saber, twisting it painfully from her hand. It clattered some distance away. Raven reached out her hand and tried to call it, but Nat held it in place, easily overpowering her divided attention. He then struck, and as Raven twisted painfully away, her back tightened, throwing her painfully to the floor. As tears sprang unbidden to her eyes, her blaster, which she hadn't realized she was still holding, skittered a short distance away, and she could feel wetness on her back where the wound had come open.   
  
Nathaniel moved near as Raven rolled onto her back to look up at him. He smiled, a wicked, twisted expression. "'There is no death, there is only the Force,'" he intoned, sweeping his purple blade up for the kill.   
  
***   
  
As Nathaniel swung his blade down, it was blocked by another saber, this one green. The two hissed evilly over Raven. Qui-Gon ended the stalemate by deflecting the shot away, and he moved to stand over Raven. Calling Raven's saber to his hand, he clipped it to his belt as he moved towards Nat. The Dark Jedi moved backwards, warily sizing up his new opponent.   
  
Qui-Gon struck, sending tremors up Nat's arm. Despite the flesh wound on his leg, he moved fluidly and swiftly. His strength evenly matched Nat's, and they moved across the floor in the deadly dance of saber fighting. Qui-Gon shifted Nat away from Raven, forcing him to give ground towards the door. The battle seemed like it would be easy.   
  
Then, Nat deactivated his saber. "It's about the power, you know," he commented. He launched himself from the ground in a neat flip over Qui-Gon's head. "If Valorum managed to convince those idiots in the Senate that they ought to hunt out and discredit corrupt politicians, I would lose my influence." Younam was now retreating, an expression of fear on his face.   
  
Qui-Gon pursued warily, uncomfortable with the fact that Nat was now between himself and Raven. His sense were alert, and Raven was still feeding him strength through the Force, although from what he could see of her, she'd gone pale and closed her eyes.   
  
"The Jedi don't understand the potential they have, if they would only tap into it," Nat added, his voice hedging on desperation. He gestured with his lightsaber, looking wild. "I could teach you to wield power you can't imagine!" Nat was almost to Raven.   
  
"The power over other people," the Dark Jedi added, and he activated his saber, making a low cut towards Raven. Her eyes opened, and she revealed her blaster. Nat tried to maneuver his saber to block her shot, but he only succeed in grazing Raven's chest, leaving a scorch mark in its wave. Raven shot him, catching him square in the chest. Nat fell heavily onto her, his eyes already lifeless, as his saber clattered away.   
  
Qui-Gon let out a cry and ran the short distance to Raven and Nat. He moved Nat's body away from Raven and looked at the serious burn mark on her chest. It had revealed her ribs through the burnt fabric, and scored them. Raven blinked slowly, her eyes filled with tears and incomprehensible pain. Her mouth worked for a moment as she tried to say something. Then, she stopped and closed her eyes, tears spilling onto her cheeks. _A Jedi burial,_ her voice within the Force reverberated in Qui-Gon's mind, _please give me a Jedi burial._   
  
Shaking his head, Qui-Gon took off his cloak and gently wrapped her in it. "You're not dead yet. Just hold on," he told her. He grabbed his commlink from his belt and began yelling into it. "I've got an emergency here, send a med team quickly!" He gave the location of the building.   
  
Raven lay on the floor without moving, her face and lips pale against the soft, dark fabric of Qui-Gon's cloak. "Just hold on," he whispered painfully. 


	15. Run for So Long

_Run for So Long_   
  
Something was terribly wrong.   
  
A sense of urgency pressed against Raven as she struggled to gain control of herself again. Although she couldn't recall why, she knew that there was something important going on, a matter of life and death, and she was supposed to be acting in it. Other people's lives hinged upon it, this mysterious event, and it was imperative that she open her eyes and move, fight against whatever evil was here.   
  
Raven finally managed to open her eyes and was surprised by the scene before her. Whatever she had been expecting, this was not it. She was in a small room, lying on a bed with a blanket thrown over her. The bed was pressed up against a wall, and to her right side was a large curtain draping to the floor. A door was open to her left, farther along the wall. Something beeped quietly above her head. Raven tried to shift to see what it was, but a white-hot flash of pain torn through her midsection, countering her idea.   
  
A young boy, perhaps about twelve, appeared from behind the curtain, jumping slightly when he noticed Raven watching him. "You're awake!" he exclaimed, and he flashed her a smile. He paused, marking something on a datapad he had in hand, and Raven's eyes widened as a thin braid that fell to his collarbone revealed itself from behind his back. He tucked the datapad into one of his un-dyed tunics and told her, "I'll find a Healer for you."   
  
Memories slowly drifted back to her of what had happened, the fight with Nat, being knocked to the ground, shooting her blaster. However, her memory failed from that point, collapsing into images and emotions, a brief glance of Qui-Gon hovered above her, but mostly pain.   
  
Raven took a deep breath, releasing a sigh that made her aware of the throbbing ache in her chest. It still burned from her attempt to see what was above her head. Still, Raven closed her eyes and inhaled deeply again, pushing away the pain to savor the scent of the room around her.   
  
So she was in the Temple, then. It was timeless, the place even smelled as she remembered. It seemed that nothing had really changed except the people wandering the halls. Or, Raven mentally corrected herself, at least the infirmary was still the same. The last time she was in here for something major, the memory flew to her without her request, was when she had had pneumonia as a five-year initiate. She'd spent ten days, so sick she could hardly move. The room looked the same as the one she had spent time in, with the exception of it appearing a bit smaller.   
  
Raven settled herself more comfortably in the soft sheets of the medical bed and closed her eyes, reaching out into the Force. It seemed to hum more strongly to her here, with the assembly of Jedi, all using, learning and teaching about, manipulating the Force. The place was designed for the facilitation of these activities, a haven for the communion of Force users, Jedi. Raven had never forgotten the feeling of connectedness here, the idea that she was never truly alone. It had been so hard to leave this place, her home, the only one she had ever known.   
  
An orderly came in, a young woman probably a little younger than Qui-Gon. Raven quickly withdrew from the Force, not particularly wanting to reveal her abilities or answer questions about them. Her blond hair was pulled back from her face. "My name is Padawan Tril Waiship. I'm going to examine you, as the tourneys are going on in the arena, and much of the Infirmary staff is there. I'm going to check your temperature, pulse and your blood pressure, as well as check your bandages and the bone knitters underneath. All right?"   
  
Raven nodded. The younger woman pulled another curtain across a small area around the bed, blocking the view to the door. She took Raven's wrist between her fingers, counting silently to herself as she watched a chrono on her own wrist. Then, she produced a small arm cuff and took Raven's blood pressure. Then, she took her temperature. "Your pulse and blood pressure look good," the padawan informed her, "but your temperature is actually a little low. Hopefully that's just a sign you're on the road to recovery, but we'll have to monitor it."   
  
"How long have I been here?" Raven asked.   
  
Tril shrugged. "Let me check," she replied, retrieving the datapad hanging on the end of Raven's bed. "Says here you were brought in eighteen hours ago." The padawan frowned for a moment, looking thoughtful. "Odd, you're not a Jedi. Normally the Council has non-Jedi sent to a local hospital. You're rather lucky to be here. Must be the medication allergies, I guess." She scanned Raven's file for another moment longer.   
  
"Guess so," Raven echoed thoughtfully. Tril threw back the covers to the bed in a businesslike manner, and Raven was startled to notice she had no tunic on. However, her chest was bound from beneath her collarbones to below her ribs, so Raven reflected that it probably would have just been another abrasive, or perhaps made her too warm.   
  
Tril sat on the end of the bed and firmly pressed the soft bandages, her face a mask of concentration. Her fingers traced her ribs and the burns beneath the bandages, although sometimes a shiver of pain would ripple out from beneath the padawan's fingers. Raven was curious about this procedure, which she didn't understand at all. She personally would have learned nothing except how to inflict pain by doing this to someone, but then again, she had only spent her required one week a year volunteering in the Infirmary doing administrative work. Then, Tril checked the underside of the bandage, and Raven recognized this gesture from her help with minor things. She was seeing if blood was seeping through the bandage, or if the wound had closed.   
  
Tril stood up from the bed and pulled the blanket back across then opened the curtain. As she washed her hands, she commented, "You look pretty good. The bone knitters are working wonderfully. We should be able to remove them tomorrow morning and get you into another bacta tank. But not until the knitters are out, because the bacta interferes with their processes. Is there anything I can get for you before I go?"   
  
Raven nodded. "Actually, I wouldn't mind something to eat. Also, I was wondering if I could speak with the man who brought me here. I believe his name was Qui-Gon Jinn?"   
  
The padawan smiled kindly and gave Raven a half-bow, a sign of servitude. "I'll see to both of those. Now, I'd recommend you get some sleep. That burn isn't going to go away on its own," she added with a wink. The she was gone, closing the door behind her.   
  
Raven sighed and then mentally cursed at the pain it caused. Sleep wasn't a bad idea, and she could feel it stealing toward the edges of her consciousness even as she began to think about how the tourneys were today, and how she wished she could watch.   
  
***   
  
Raven awoke as another younger padawan was bringing in a tray of food. Tril was right behind him, giving quiet instructions on where to put the tray. The padawan would nod shyly to her directions, his blond hair sweeping into his eyes. She tossed a smile to Raven as he put the tray on the small table next to her bed.   
  
"I hope you're not too upset, but it's nothing very substantial," Tril informed the rogue, "just some broth and bread. However, we don't want you to get sick. That would be rather painful for you." The younger padawan gave a half bow and disappeared out of the door.   
  
There were controls on the side of the bed that adjusted the angle of it. Tril positioned Raven so that her hips were below the pivoting point and then sat the bed up. Raven found herself sitting comfortably up, her stomach still flat and unbent. She had to admit, she enjoyed this position much better than perpetually lying on the bed. Tril produced a rolling cart consisting of a flat surface that hung over some distance from the leg and set the tray on it, rolling it within her grasp. "Is there anything else I can get you? I did inquire after Knight Jinn for you, and he said he will be down soon. He had a meeting will the Council."   
  
Raven nodded, enjoying the scent of her soup. "Thank you," she replied. "I can't think of anything else I might want."   
  
"If you do, just activate the comm. next to your bed, and you'll get a hold of either me or another orderly." Tril repeated the bow of the younger padawan and took her own leave.   
  
Carefully, Raven sopped a piece of the bread in the broth and nibbled it, taking pleasure in the richness of the bread and the herbal taste of the soup. She had forgotten how good the food was in the Temple, even though she could recall as a padawan complaining of it. Of course, her master had been a talented chef, periodically treating her padawan to a meal by her own hands.   
  
The thought made her pause. Raven suddenly had a longing to see her master again, to hear her voice. When she had left, she hadn't told anyone, making the decision by herself and acting upon it. Now, she could see that her actions were a front for guilt and grief, but at the time, Raven could think of no other suitable course of action. Perhaps she had even been afraid of reprimand. What had Daré Shioc thought of her former padawan's abrupt departure? Was she even still alive?   
  
Raven brooded for a while, mechanically eating her food without any pleasure in it. Master Shioc had probably drawn her own, correct, conclusions to the exit of her padawan. She had always been very good at that kind of thing, a very intuitive and sympathetic Jedi. Raven couldn't help but feel that she did owe her master some kind of explanation, now that the opportunity had presented itself.   
  
Discovering that she had eaten all of her bread, Raven picked up the bowl and drank the rest of the broth, aware as a feeling of acceptance settled over her. So her past had finally caught up with her. Some part of the rogue had always known that it would, that it was only a matter of time. Raven had run for so long, it felt good to finally slow down and begin to look back. 


	16. First Duty

_First Duty_   
  
Qui-Gon entered the room quietly, swinging the door closed behind himself. Raven watched as he pulled a chair from the other side of the room to side by her bed. His gray-blue eyes seemed to search her for a moment as he considered in silence, before finally saying, "The Council knows of who and what you are."   
  
"I assumed as much," Raven replied quietly, studying her hands in her lap before turning her green eyes to his. He was still unassuming, but something about his demeanor had changed. "Thank you for bringing me here, for saving my life."   
  
"It was nothing you wouldn't, or perhaps I should say, haven't, done for me," he shrugged, leaning back in his chair and seeming to relax a little. "I just returned from meeting with the Council. You are allowed to stay, under the understanding that you will meet with them at least once. You and your appearance were discussed extensively at the meeting about my mission, which was, by the way, considered a success. Finis Valorum is now considered safe for the time being, and I have completed my first mission as a Jedi Knight."   
  
Raven raised one eyebrow, not missing the flat expression on his face. "Yet, you feel that it is not over. Not all of the lines are filled in," she countered quietly.   
  
"You are correct," he stated with a sigh, "and you remain the biggest question mark of this entire experience. I don't believe the reason you gave me for leaving the Temple. If that was part of it, then it wasn't the main reason you left. I also want to know why you gave so freely of yourself for a mission sanctioned by a group you left on ambiguous terms at best, to the point of almost giving your life for it." The large man had leaned forward again, his hands relaxed on his knees, but his eyes bore into hers, unblinking and conveying the urgency within him.   
  
"You ask hard questions, Qui-Gon Jinn, but as you wish. I've already told you that I worked in Intelligence during my life as Jedi Knight. Much of life consisted of what I do now as a hobby, collecting information and piecing it together. However, before I would do such things for other knights and masters, putting together the finer points to put together a mission and objective or the like.   
  
"I had been a Knight for a little over a year when I was assigned to find information on a political hostage situation. Three young children of a representative in the Senate had been kidnapped and were being held under threat. If the senator didn't pay up, the children would be killed. I was coordinating the information that our Intelligence eyes-and-ears were bringing in to pass it along to two Master-padawan pairs to rescue the children.   
  
"There was a problem of time constraints due to the difficulty of gathering the information, and in my hurry to get the information to the four Jedi scheduled to make the rescue attempt that night, I didn't cross-reference or validate about three sources of information.   
  
"It turned out the information I passed along was incorrect. It concerned weapons placement, or perhaps guard placement, but in the end that doesn't matter. One pair of the master-padawan teams was caught in an impromptu ambush, and the padawan was killed, his master severely wounded." Raven swallowed slowly, tears forming in her eyes. She had to pause and recollect herself, and for a little while, she spoke haltingly.   
  
"Because of my indolence and stupidity, Demian Emil was killed, and his master, Robas Coun, was paralyzed from the waist down. Afterwards, I was beside myself with grief and blame. After meditating for a long time, I came to the conclusion that I couldn't remain here in the Temple. I couldn't forgive myself for that, and I felt I no longer deserved to be a Jedi. So, I left the Temple."   
  
Raven sat with her head bowed in remorse, tears on her cheeks, as Qui-Gon sat quietly. The room was silent, and Qui-Gon's expression had softened to reveal compassion and understanding. "Raven Suul Darkfeather," he said solemnly, "you are still a Jedi at heart, and I believe you deserve to be one beyond that as well. You put others before you in all things, are kind and compassionate, making judgments balanced between what you feel from the Force and what you rationally comprehend with your mind. You are slow to anger and quick to forgive, except for yourself. If I have learned nothing in your company during this, it is that you still maintain the thoughts and actions of a Jedi, even if you consider yourself undeserving of the title. You are more a Jedi than many who live here, myself included. You understand what it means to be a Jedi, while I'm still fumbling such concepts."   
  
She shook her head, a smile twitching at the corners of her mouth even though her express was still sad. "Your words are kind, Knight Jinn, but you don't give yourself enough credit. You are still learning the ways of the Force, and the qualities you admire in me I am sure you will surpass with experience."   
  
He shrugged. "I hope you are right."   
  
***   
  
A change came over Raven's expression, and she looked up at him. "A Jedi at heart, you said. I am not, right now, but I will be. First, I must right a wrong. Qui-Gon, please bring me some robes and boots. Where is my belt and light saber?" She threw her blankets back and moved to leave the bed.   
  
Qui-Gon stood up, towering over her. "Raven, you can't leave. You're injured. Your first duty is to get well."   
  
"No, my first duty is to act honorably. I haven't done that, and I must correct that action. Qui-Gon, listen to me. I've spent my entire life training to be a Jedi Knight. This is my home, this is my duty. I threw that away in grief and self-condemnation, and that is a choice I must live with. But there is a Council of Twelve in the spire that deserves my explanation and my acceptance of the punishment they give me. I will continue to serve the Jedi, whether I am one of their ranks or not, and that service demands I face my destiny. Please get me some robes."   
  
Her green eyes bored into his gray-blue for a moment, and then Qui-Gon relented, shaking his head. "I will do as you ask, but I don't think it's a good idea. At least let me help you up and make sure you can walk."   
  
"You are a true friend, Qui-Gon," Raven smiled in return, "and I suppose I will allow you that since you have relented for me." He eased her to her feet, carefully keeping her torso as straight as possible. Raven grinned a little sheepishly, realizing she still lacked a tunic, although she was wearing a pair of infirmary drawstring pants that hung between her knees and her ankles.   
  
"I'll be back," the Jedi murmured, giving her a long-suffering look, "but I still don't approve."   
  
Raven shrugged, testing her mobility. "I'm not asking for that, just clothes," she replied impishly. Qui-Gon disappeared, and Raven moved slowly across her section of the room, making her way to the refresher in the opposite corner of the room. It was slower going than she was used to, although she was relatively functional. _No saber fighting for me,_ the rogue thought soberly.   
  
She made it to the refresher. Raven turned back towards the door, ignoring the slight wave of weariness that washed over her. She looked at the door and tossed her hair defiantly, standing up and straight as she could. It was just another challenge, something she'd experienced all her life. Walking across the room and into the Council Chamber to admit her mistake and take her judgment. Just another challenge.   
  
Qui-Gon walked back into the room and had to pause in the doorway, surprised by the look on Raven's face. Before him stood undeniably a Jedi, from the look on her face to the confidence in her body. She had the regality, the poise of a Jedi, and she didn't need robes or a lightsaber to prove it. Qui-Gon felt a tug of sadness pull at him at the thought she may not return to what was hers.   
  
Raven suddenly noticed him, and her stature reverted from Jedi to a person who tried and succeeded at blending in with other people, although the gleam in her eyes was still unmistakably one like him. "Here are the traditional Jedi robes," Qui-Gon said quietly, walking across the small room and handing her the clothes and setting a pair of boots on the floor. Folded neatly on top was her belt, with her lightsaber laying next to it.   
  
Taking them from him ceremonially, Raven inclined her head slightly, feeling the weight of what she was about to do descend upon her. She pulled the clean under tunic over her head, shaking her hair free, and then added the two outer tabards. As a testament to her training, Raven then proceeded to trade the pants for her leggings. Raven then pulled the boots on her feet, looking odd as she kept her torso straight. The Rogue picked up her belt, removed the holster containing her blaster and handed it to Qui-Gon. Solemnly she buckled the utility belt around her waist, and clipped her lightsaber to it. Then, she looked levelly at the Jedi Knight.   
  
"I am ready to see the Council," Raven said quietly, her voice steady. Qui-Gon nodded, moving to leave the room. He heard what she had really meant; she was ready to face her destiny, whatever it may be. 


	17. The Council Chamber

_The Council Chamber_   
  
Raven took a deep breath as she stood outside the large wooden doors leading into the chamber. Qui-Gon had gone in ahead of her to tell the Council that she was there. She allowed her thoughts to drift into the future, where she made plans to locate her master and then collect her things to leave. She also needed to inquire after Dane.   
  
The door opened, scattering her thoughts as she saw Qui-Gon fill the doorway. "They will see you now," he said formally, moving aside to allow her passage into the room. For a moment, Raven tried to fool herself into believe that she was only facing a council of her peers, but she knew that was untrue. These were all master Jedi, people who had never strayed from the narrow path the Order.   
  
Somberly, Raven walked into the Council chamber, moving to the center of the room as she had done so many times before. She recognized the face of Mace Windu, a colleague of hers in some of her classes over the years, as well as the venerable Master Yoda. He was seated in the chair reserved for the head of the Council, regarding her thoughtfully. Raven gave a stiff, ceremonial bow to him and then turned a quarter turn to give the other, encompassing bow to the rest of the Council.   
  
Raven's composure was thrown for a moment when another familiar, thoughtful face jumped out at her. Daré Shioc sat ninety degrees around the circular chamber from Yoda, watching her former padawan with a blank expression. Raven completed the gesture then turned back to the Whill to wait for him.   
  
"Look like a Jedi, she does," he said finally after long minutes had dragged by. "A trick, is this? A prank?"   
  
"No prank, Master Yoda," Raven replied respectfully. "I have come as I should have five years ago either to be allowed to remain within the Jedi Order or to be stripped of my title and lightsaber, as the Council deems fit." She could sense the Council reaching into her mind, as well as the comforting presence of Qui-Gon. Her mental shields were at their most natural state, allowing the Council members to view much of her feelings and impressions. Raven had nothing to hide, and she wanted to make that absolutely clear. Whatever judgment the Council passed, it would be complete and just.   
  
Yoda murmured thoughtfully to himself for a moment, half closing his eyes. Raven could feel the Master reach out into the Force, although she knew not what he sought. "Five years, it has been," he said finally, his ears twitching slightly as he opened his eyes to regard her, "since last with us you stood. Is that not true?"   
  
"It is, Master," Raven replied. The rest of the Council remained silent, happy to leave their head to ask the questions while they simply observed and listened to the Force guide them. Most likely, they would discuss her appearance amongst themselves once she had been dismissed, coming to a suitable answer in time.   
  
"Leave the Temple, why did you, and returned to us after so long, why have you?"   
  
"If you will recall, I was the head of an information gathering unit for a mission that involved a senator's abducted the children. The Jedi were asked to retrieve them as to keep them from harm. My task was to sort and validate information for the two Master-Padawan teams that were to carry out the rescue. Due to time constraints, I didn't validate all of my information and through youthful ignorance, I passed it along anyway. My unreliable information caused the death of a Padawan, his name Demian Emil. His master, Robas Coun, was injured as well, paralyzed. I was overcome by grief, and after meditating on the incident I felt I was no longer fit to bear the title of Jedi Knight. I left the Temple that day.   
  
"I have returned because of personal injuries sustained in assisting a Jedi Knight, one Qui-Gon Jinn, in his mission. He made me realize that perhaps I am still a Jedi at heart, even though I left the Temple, and the last five years I have spent in a kind of limbo, being neither Jedi nor defector. Although I had no choice in the matter of coming to the Temple, I did choose to come before you now, as I am, to accept your judgment on the situation as to whether I am still a Jedi or now stripped of that title."   
  
The small master pursed his lips and looked thoughtfully at Raven. "Problems with Council decisions you have had before, have you not?" he asked with quiet emphasis.   
  
"I have, Master Yoda. I must confess I have never totally agreed with the Jedi involvement in politics and still maintain that the Order is governed too much by the Galactic Senate. I see the Order as used for petty and silly situations for the mere convenience of the Senate. However, I had said such things before I left the Temple, so that has not changed much," she added, a slight smile playing at her lips.   
  
Yoda's ears twitched in amusement. "True words, those are, but considered your dedication must be. Reviewed will all aspects of your tenure be so made a decision can." Raven responded silently with a respectfully bowed head.   
  
***   
  
"I wish to know of your activities since you left the Temple," a soft, alto voice said firmly. Raven turned to face the speaker, recognizing the voice immediately as her former master's. She drank in her master's features for a moment, familiar with the dark red hair that was pulled back as always into an intricate braid. The sun from the Coruscant sky highlighted it from the back, bringing out the blond and subtler shades of red within it. Daré Shioc sat cross-legged on her chair, her back as straight as a ramrod, and her deep blue eyes burned intelligently in her delicately featured face. She was a slim woman, although there was strength behind the small bones and structure of her body. A wash of memories came with the one look, memories of strict discipline and also great affection, lessons learned and games played. Daré had been Raven's master for almost fourteen years, and she had been a mentor and a mother, a teacher and a disciplinarian, but most importantly, a friend.   
  
"I was a runner for most of those years," she told her master unashamedly, "mostly running information. I also learned to do minimal slicing, although that was more for my own purposes of gathering information. I kept tabs on certain people for my own safety, as well as my own curiosity. I did provide the Intelligence Corps here with important information when I thought it might be useful."   
  
Daré Shioc nodded slightly, a gesture that Raven recognized as filing the knowledge away for later consideration. "Did they verify their sources?" she asked quietly and not mockingly. The question made Raven smile a bit, because it was her master's way of seeing that mistakes were not repeated. She was not so much concerned that her former padawan had made a mistake than that it wasn't repeated by others.   
  
"They did various checks on myself and my contacts, yes. One of the people I gave my information to was a former colleague, so he trusted me from then. I do know that I was tailed by a Jedi for a number of weeks, and they thoroughly checked out my activities and presumably my information."   
  
Master Shioc hid her thoughts well, for Raven couldn't decide if she was ashamed of her padawan or not. The meeting continued with other Council members asking questions about her life either before or after she left. Some of the questions were also directed at Qui-Gon, inquiring as to her behavior and involvement. Dusk had turned the sky a deep scarlet by the time she and Qui-Gon had been dismissed from the Council Chamber, told that the Council would deliberate on her fate and inform her of it once they had made a decision.   
  
"You look pale," Qui-Gon said, looking at her with concern in his eyes once they had moved beyond the antechamber leading into the Council room.   
  
"I have little doubt of that," she replied, moving slowly through the hallways back towards the infirmary. "Perhaps you were right when you said I was still too weak for this."   
  
He shrugged. "You looked fine until you walked out of there," he replied. They walked in companionable silence for a short time until the clash and hiss of lightsabers began to echo in the hall, as well as the cries of a crowd.   
  
"Is that the tournament?" Raven asked suddenly, feeling drawn towards the sounds.   
  
"I would imagine," Qui-Gon replied dryly. "Shouldn't you go back to lie down in the infirmary?"   
  
"Probably," the rogue replied, heading towards the arena. 


	18. One Life for Another

_One Life for Another_   
  
Qui-Gon followed her into the arena, where she stood just inside the door. Two younger padawans were dueling on the mats, leaping around obstacles in one of the competitions. He could sense another shift in Raven, as she stood in the doorway. Her arms were folded across her chest, and her face held a focused look, although her eyes seemed to watch nothing at all, only looking the general direction of the competition.   
  
"You know, this was my haven," she said suddenly, jolting Qui-Gon's attention from the battle to her. "Not all of my memories of the Temple and my life here are fond. I was brought to the Temple very old by Jedi standards, almost one year in fact. I have a very high midichlorian count. However, I wasn't a very quick learner. My teachers often had to work very hard with me to get me to master simple concepts. I was thrown out of many classes because they thought I simply wasn't trying. I did try, though often I just couldn't do it.   
  
"Here, I excelled. I was top of every one of my saber classes. This arena was where the playing field was leveled for me. I could compete against the other children my age here and succeed. If it weren't for this, I think I would have left the Temple from frustration before I was old enough to be chosen as a padawan. As it was, I was sure I was destined for the AgriCorps or something equally humiliating."   
  
The two padawans were separated, one standing on top of a tall box while the other assessed the situation from below. The audience had grown quiet, and the students' concentration was reflected in the individual observer's face. Raven stood, still transfixed, looking through the battling students.   
  
The one on the box flipped over the other's head, making a low slash. The move was parried slowly, the second obviously caught off guard. The student who had jumped used the other's momentary surprised and gave him a strong hit on his arm. Then, the fight was over, the second, still disoriented, tumbling to the ground in an effort to twist away from the burn. The kill point was scored by the student on the box, who then proceeded to help the other up. They bowed and left the mat as the announcer roared the victor's name and stated the next match.   
  
"Well won, if I do say so…" Qui-Gon trailed off, watching Raven as she took a few wobbling steps. Her face had gone almost as white as the undertunic beneath her tabards. She made it one more step before her legs gave way beneath her. Qui-Gon was behind her before she could crumple to the floor, supporting her by thrusting his arms beneath hers.   
  
He eased her back to her feet, shifting her so that she was supported by one of his arms, her own clutching at his back beneath his. "Come on, I think it's time to go back to the infirmary," he said soothingly. He could feel her heart beating rapidly, and her breath was coming in short, arduous gasps.   
  
"I'd love to oblige you in that," Raven gulped in reply, "but first you must stop the room from spinning."   
  
Qui-Gon gently crouched down, gathering her legs with his other arm and swinging her up into his grasp. "Never you mind that," he told her as she clung to his tunics and closed her eyes tightly. "I'll get you down there."   
  
"Somehow, I don't think this is supposed to happen," Raven said, her voice muffled from his clothing. Qui-Gon marveled at how light she was in his arms, even though she was little more than muscle and bone. She opened her eyes slightly, her features relaxing a little. "This feels like the last time I had blood work done for my physical," she added unhappily.   
  
"And the healers wonder why most Jedi have an aversion to their domain!" Qui-Gon laughed. Raven nodded her agreement feebly. Her breathing had slowed, although the Jedi could tell that that wasn't because she was calming herself. Instead, he could tell that she was struggling to remain conscious. Suddenly, she gave up, her body losing its tension.   
  
"I knew there was a reason I thought that was a bad idea," Qui-Gon sighed as he pushed open the doors to the infirmary.   
  
***   
  
Raven was coming around again, albeit slowly, by the time Qui-Gon had returned her to her room. He laid her on her bed as she began to stir. As he pulled his hand away, Qui-Gon was surprised to find scarlet dampness on his hands. Raven stirred on the bed with a quiet moan as the Jedi moved to the door and called for a healer.   
  
A young man entered the room dressed in the infirmary scrubs. He was obviously an older padawan, fairly close to Qui-Gon's age, his braid falling halfway to his elbow. Qui-Gon had already busied himself by peeling off her tabards, the undertunic beneath steeped in blood. The padawan swore, seeing what the Jedi was uncovering. "What happened to her?" he asked Qui-Gon, helping him strip the tunic from her. "It looks like it's been bleeding for some time."   
  
Qui-Gon shrugged, putting the dirty clothing into a hamper for such things as the padawan inspected the bandages. "She was injured in a saber fight yesterday," he informed the other, "and demanded to speak with the Council this afternoon. I guess she reopened the wound."   
  
"Looks like it." The padawan swore softly to himself. "I think everyone has gone to bed or the arena for the evening. Tournament days are maddening! The infirmary is understaffed. Can you help me? We need to get her into a bacta tank. Let me check her records before we do."   
  
The padawan moved to the end of the bed, studying the datapad that was there. He raised an eyebrow at Qui-Gon after he scanned it. "She's not a Jedi?" he asked, the surprise evident in his tone, "and she has bone knitters in her. By the Force!" He left the room abruptly.   
  
Raven stirred again, her eyes fluttering open. "What's going on?" she asked, sounding a little disoriented. Her eyes flickered around the room, finally settling on Qui-Gon.   
  
"You broke open your gash in stubbornness," he informed her, "and perhaps your blaster wound as well."   
  
"Lovely," came her reply as she shifted to stare at the ceiling.   
  
The padawan reappeared and threw an armful of cloth bandages on the bed. Under his other arm was tucked a container of clear liquid, which he placed carefully on the stand next to the bed. "Strip off her bandages carefully," the padawan said as he grabbed a clean bandage. "We can't give her full immersion, but we can bandage bacta to the parts away from the knitters."   
  
"Can you sit up for me, Raven?" Qui-Gon asked, gently supporting her as he shifted her to sit upright. He found the end of the bandage and carefully began unwinding it from her middle.   
  
"If you give me a treat," she replied impishly, cooperatively lifting her arms to make the unwrapping process easier. Qui-Gon worked in silence for a few minutes as the padawan carefully soaked and folded some of the new bandages he had brought. "Would you talk to me?" the Rogue finally said a little uneasily. "The tension in this room makes me feel like I may not live until morning."   
  
"You'll live, but I'd like to stop that blood flow as quickly as possible," the padawan replied. "You've already lost a considerable amount."   
  
"Stubbornness does that to a person sometimes," Raven replied half-heartedly. "So tell me about Dane then." She made the request quietly, and Qui-Gon could sense that she would have preferred to ask Dane himself what had happened and whether he was all right.   
  
"I found him trussed up and hidden in a corner next to some kind of detonator. I think your dark friend intended simply to blow him up if one of us got too close. His hands and feet were a little swollen from being tied for so long, and he was a little groggy when I got to him, but other than that, he was fine. Turns out, Younam traced him to you and used him as bait. He wanted to get you out of the way before he moved on Valorum. Anyway, Dane was in the Temple briefly, long enough to see you wouldn't die on him. He told me he was going to go home to hug his children and kiss his wife. Then, he planned to find another job. Of course, that was only after I promise to have you contact him when you could."   
  
Raven sat in silence as Qui-Gon pulled away the last of the bandages, revealing the blaster burn on her back. He moved to dispose of the soiled bandages and turned back to look at her as the padawan began to position the bacta-soaked clothes and bind them with the bandages.   
  
Her face was relatively blank, and he couldn't help but wonder what was going through her mind. The rest of her life hinged on the decision the Council was discussing in the uppermost room of the Temple. She had risked life and livelihood to help him for no other reason that she thought she could. Qui-Gon realized that in the last few days, she had become one of his closer friends, having normally been a loner within the Temple.   
  
Qui-Gon wondered what she was giving up to come back. He had, from time to time, speculated on what life was like beyond the Temple. He had speculated on the idea of having genuine friends and living only for himself and not for the mandates the Council had given him. Qui-Gon had dreamed of falling in love and holding his first child. However, those dreams had always seemed an apparition that he couldn't truly make real. They were dreams of another man, another Qui-Gon who would never find complete existence.   
  
But she had tasted those tendrils of freedom, she had made friends and a life for herself. Raven had lived as she chose, making her own decisions on where to go and what to do, making friends. And still, she wanted to give up those freedoms to be a Jedi again. She had seen both worlds, and this one, in her opinion, was the better.   
  
However, that idea made sense to Qui-Gon. He couldn't perceive himself as making any other decision than that, although he also couldn't imagine being in such a situation. Nothing came to mind that would be strong enough for him to leave the Jedi Order, despite the faults he could see within the structure. Nothing was perfect, and this at least had an ideal at the end for him to strive towards.   
  
Still, a faint tugging pulled at him as he watched the padawan carefully place another bacta cloth and wrap it. Something stirred within him, and Qui-Gon suspected that it was the beginnings of love for this fierce, independent woman. He felt a fierce desire to protect her, to heal her, and to make her whole again. It was a contradictory thought, if it were to grow into full-fledged love, because for her to be whole again, to be a Jedi again, she would have to renounce such things as the exclusive love between two people. Jedi were not required to remain celibate. The idea of marriage though was perceived as a form of attachment, something the Jedi were discouraged from partaking of.   
  
In any case, they had their friendship, which was special in and of itself. Qui-Gon pushed aside the stirrings of emotion, remembering the mantra that one's personal thoughts can betray oneself. He was indebted to her for the lesson she had taught him, as well as for his life. In the end, he would be a Jedi, holding to the ideals that that implied, and because of her, he would be a better one. That was enough, he knew within himself, to make up for whatever millions of other paths his life might have taken, whether or not it involved her. He was content with that knowledge as well. He had her friendship, and that was enough. 


	19. To Be a Jedi

_To Be a Jedi_   
  
The padawan had induced a healing trance for Raven and left, leaving Qui-Gon with strict orders that she was not to leave her bed or move excessively. The Jedi had replied that he would try, but she was given to being willful. The padawan seemed to miss the humor, just shaking his head as he left the room.   
  
Qui-Gon had procured a chair from somewhere and settled down next to her bed, propping his feet up on the corner of it. He watched her for a short while, although boredom soon over took that task. With a yawn, Qui-Gon shifted to his feet, deciding to find something to read while he waited for Raven to awaken from her trance.   
  
He never made it past the door. The shorter, red-haired Jedi from the Council was on her way in the room, her face looking mildly amused. "You know," she said to a surprised Qui-Gon, "I'm not surprised that she should end up here. I always figured she'd return in a whirlwind of controversy and strife. Raven was never one to pass up a fight, especially an honorable one." She shook her head and clucked her tongue in amusement.   
  
"You seem to know her rather well," Qui-Gon answered with a suppressed smile.   
  
"Some days I wonder. Master Daré Shioc, former master to that one there," she stuck out her hand, looking the taller Jedi confidently in the eye.   
  
"Knight Qui-Gon Jinn, although you were already aware of that," he replied, grasping her hand and shaking it. He had an impression of strength and a very fiery spirit. Qui-Gon couldn't help but smile, understanding where Raven's conviction and strength of character came from, although she didn't seem to have her master's boisterous behavior.   
  
Daré put her arms in her sleeves, crossing them over her chest. "I figured she'd be back one day, given the circumstances of her leaving. She let her conscience get the best of her, although having such a demanding conscience is hardly something I can condemn her for. That's what made her such an excellent Jedi." She gave a short laugh. "Still, I thought she'd come here of her own free will, not dragged in by her heels by someone else!"   
  
Qui-Gon shrugged. "Perhaps she saw herself impossible to forgive for leaving, as she couldn't forgive herself for making the mistake that cost that padawan his life."   
  
"Whoever put her in charge ought to be have his head stuck in a bucket of icy cold water," Master Shioc replied bluntly. "That girl lives a charmed life, and her arrival here only reaffirms my faith in that. She's sustained more serious injuries than any padawan I've ever known, and still she's alive. Raven ought to be dead at least a score of times that I have personally witnessed. She shouldn't be behind a desk, directing Jedi in dangerous situations. She ought to be in the field, taking the risks herself. She can handle it and has the scars to prove it. Her mind for connecting events is extraordinary, and she fights as hard and as well as a bounty hunter backed into a corner. But being an administrative leader?" She laughed again, leaving no doubt as to her opinion on the matter.   
  
"I detect a hint of pride in your padawan," Qui-Gon said softly, raising an eloquent eyebrow at the Council member.   
  
Daré smiled at him. "You'd be correct in that statement. Has she told you much about her time under my tutelage? I have never met a student who learned slower or tried harder than she. Raven fought in every one of her Force manipulation and academic classes. And when she wasn't fighting there, she was fighting in the arena, proving herself in the one matter in which she was very successful. When Nathaniel turned, she had a rough time of it because he was a close friend, her cover in the Intelligence. But she endured and was elated at her promotion to administrator in the Intelligence Corps. Then that mission happened, and it shattered her. I wasn't surprised to find that she had left. I knew she had to find the pieces of her life somewhere else, on a new battleground where Raven hadn't already drawn the lines as she had here in the Temple. She had already fought too many struggles here. I knew she would leave, although it nearly tore me apart to know she was suffering so greatly, but I also knew that if she succeeded in her task, she would come home again."   
  
"Some lessons must be learned on one's own," Qui-Gon concurred.   
  
"Wise Jedi," Master Shioc replied with a satisfactory nod. "And now will you excuse me? I have some catching up to do with my padawan when she wakes, as well as some Council business to discuss with her. I'd like to meditate here before she does, and also watch her sleep like I did when we still shared chambers."   
  
"Of course," Qui-Gon said, making a respectful bow and heading towards the door. He paused in the door with a concerned look. "Try not to break her heart," he added, searching her face.   
  
"I will do my duty, as we all must," the Jedi Master replied enigmatically.   
  
***   
  
Daré perched herself on the end of Raven's bed, watching as her former padawan slept on in the healing trance. She could sense that very soon, the young rogue would begin to wake up. The Jedi Master enjoyed the few quiet moments, just watching Raven's blank face as she contemplating unknown things in her dreams, probably fighting the forces of evil.   
  
A steadiness had settled over Daré's emotions, one that belied her earlier struggles between relief at Raven's homecoming and resentment at her leaving in the first place. What she had told Qui-Gon was not inaccurate, although she hadn't give voice to the many hours of meditation and struggle that had accompanied the final conclusion. Still, with Raven here now, admitting to her mistake of running away, Master Shioc didn't find it very hard at all to forgive her.   
  
Raven's awareness was beginning to return, and Daré waited patiently for her padawan to open her eyes. It should only take a few moments from this point for her to awaken and be fully conscious, a testament to her years and training within the Temple. Daré smiled indulgently for a moment, aware that however long it may have taken Raven to learn something, once she learned it, she had mastered it completely.   
  
Her eyes fluttered open, and Raven shifted slightly to be able to look at her master. Then, she moved to sit up, but Daré raised a hand, suspending her padawan's motion. "I'm sure it is in your best interest to remain where you are," the Jedi Master said, moving to pull up the chair that Qui-Gon had found to the edge of the bed. She smiled kindly. "It is good to have you home, padawan."   
  
Raven returned the smile a little faintly. "It's good to be home, master. I suppose it is too much to ask that you aren't angry with me for leaving."   
  
"You were never one to mince words," Daré replied, settling herself more comfortably. "First, let us get the business part done, then we can catch up. Raven Suul, you have been returned your rank of Jedi Knight in this Order. However, this rank is probationary for one standard year. The conditions of the probation are that you fulfill the missions and tasks assigned to you to the best of your ability, and you exhibit all the qualities that are inherent for a Jedi. If you have any problems, you are to report directly to a Council member to work them out. Periodically, you will be summoned to appear before the Council to report on your progress in various matters. The High Council of the Jedi Order welcomes you back, Knight Suul."   
  
Raven looked at her master incredulously, tears filling her eyes. "Master!" she choked out, elated and shocked.   
  
"I know, Raven. I can hardly believe it myself. Congratulations. Now, we must discuss more unpleasant things," Daré said quietly. She watched her former padawan closely for her response.   
  
"I knew that was coming," Raven replied, her eyes still shining from her master's revelation. "I do owe you at least an explanation."   
  
The Jedi Master shook her head, shifting a little restlessly from the chair to stand at the end of Raven's bed. "Jedi Knight, you don't owe anyone anything," she said slowly, "however, I would like to know what's become of you the last few years."   
  
Raven shrugged as well as she could, lying on her back, and replied, "I left. I guess I thought there would be something glamorous or life changing about it, but there wasn't. At heart, I was still a Jedi, with the same skills, morals, and ideals. I found a niche by being a runner," Daré gave her a droll, inquisitive look, "and earned enough money to rent an apartment I made friends with a family nearby and tried to remake my life. But I couldn't. That padawan haunted me with his death, and I ignored it. Then Qui-Gon came along, and it was almost as if he were my second chance to prove myself. I could save him, if not Demian."   
  
The Jedi Master pursed her lips for a moment. "Perhaps it was not so much that you could save him but you realized you might have made the wrong decision?"   
  
Considering for a moment, Raven looked at her former master. "You are probably right, as always," she sighed.   
  
"Experience will do that to you, and being right isn't always good," Daré smiled back to Raven. "You haven't really changed, you know? You're still the initiate I chose for your expansive heart and high morals. I knew you would make an incredible Jedi, if someone had the patience to teach you how."   
  
Raven laughed then grimaced from the pain of it. "You didn't always have the patience though. I can remember you talking long walks in the Temple around midterm and finals."   
  
Daré moved back to her chair and sat down. "You've made me proud to call you my padawan, Raven, both in having the courage to leave to find yourself and then having the courage to come back. I sincerely believe that the Council has done you no favor, only giving you what you deserve, in welcoming you back."   
  
"It feels good to be home, to be a Jedi again." 


	20. Epilogue: The Persistent Song

_The Persistent Song_   
  
Defer Raven moved slowly across the walkway, her head and hair hidden by the cowl of her outer robe as she made for the dilapidated apartment building that she used to call home. She went inside quietly, her feet used to this path, although her heart felt lighter than it had in some time. Carefully, the Jedi made her way up a few flights of stairs before pausing in front of a door. Raven pressed the chime and removed her hood.   
  
The sound of locks being unhooked scratched behind the door, and a small, disgruntled Bothan peered out, her features showing distrust. "Oh, it's only you Ash," the furry female sighed, pulling the door open. "I was a little worried when you didn't pay your rent last week. The C'xons said they hadn't seen you, and you weren't in your loft. You're not one to miss deadlines."   
  
The Bothan eyed Raven for a moment, her head fur rippling as she noticed the Jedi tunics and belt, as well as the outer robe. "Well," she said softly, incredulity in her voice, "I can't say I've ever had a Jedi live in one of my rooms. Never doubted you'd the heart for it though."   
  
Raven smiled in return and produced a credit chip from one of her belt's compartments. "Here, my rent and a little extra for the wait. Also, there's enough to cover next month's rent. It's been a good stay, but I must leave now. I realize I'm supposed to give you two weeks' notice, but I'm afraid I can't. Hopefully, the credits will make up for the inconvenience." She gave a slight bow and handed the Bothan the chip.   
  
"Think nothing of it," the landlord replied kindly, glancing at the chip. "You always were a good… Five thousand credits? Are you sure you can afford this, Ash? Your rent is only one thousand a month!"   
  
The Jedi waved her away. "I made good money running and have no need of it now. Take it and enjoy." Raven left with the Bothan still making disbelieving noises, her fur rippling in surprise.   
  
She walked up the flights of stairs to her room one last time, enjoying the solitude of the moment and the echoes her boots made in the empty staircase. It wasn't long before she reached her own floor, the top one. The hallway was empty as she traversed it. Raven keyed her code, and the door slid open with a hiss.   
  
It was as she had left it nearly two weeks before. The healers had only just recently allowed her to leave the Temple so she may close up her affairs and return for good home, except as the Council deemed fit. Methodically, she transferred the information from the multiple datacards scattered on her table to one she had brought with her then deleted it, the copies bound for the Jedi Temple. Raven left everything else where it was, most of her running gear at the Temple from her last adventure with Qui-Gon. The only thing she took with her besides the data was her master's ratiuar.   
  
Raven left the room, not looking back, and came to stand in front of the C'xons' door. She could hear nothing, although she could sense someone was home. The Jedi palmed the chime and stepped back slightly, waiting for the door to be answered.   
  
Dane himself opened it and immediately embraced her, his face showing happiness and amazement. Raven grunted slightly in response, easing him away. "Careful there," she replied, a little embarrassed, "I'm still a little tender around the midsection."   
  
Dane pulled back, shaking his head a little. "But you are alive, and that is enough," he replied. "Your friend – Jinn, is his name? – didn't seem overly confident when last I saw you. It's good to have you back."   
  
"Not for long, friend," Raven replied quietly, her features quirking slightly. "I am to go back to the Temple once I have taken care of my affairs here. Are Ava and the children here?"   
  
Dane shook his head, his joy at her recovery fading at her revelation. "No, Ava is asleep, and I sent the children to play with friends a few floors down to give her quiet. Her back has been giving her pain." He fell into silence, looking concerned. "I'm sorry to hear you'll be leaving."   
  
"As am I, but I have my duty, one I have neglected for long enough." She produced another credit chip from her belt. "Here, this is all of the money I have in the world. I won't need it at the Temple, and I can think of no one who deserves it more than you and my family."   
  
"I don't want your money," Dane replied a little gruffly.   
  
Raven shrugged. "Take it anyway. Find yourself a large home in a better part of town. Please take it."   
  
Dane took the chip from her and turned it over in his hand, not even checking its amount before he slipped it into his pocket. "For the family, I suppose. I'd rather have you around." A sad smile twitched around the corners of his mouth. "At least I knew if someone abducted me, I knew I'd be taken care of."   
  
"Without me around, who would want to abduct you?" she impishly goaded him.   
  
"Thank you for my life," he said suddenly, peering into her green eyes.   
  
"It's nothing you haven't done for me," Raven responded slowly. "You gave me somewhere to land when I left the Temple and kept my secret for me. That was worth much to me."   
  
Dane drew in a breath and gave her another hug. "Then find your destiny, Raven Suul. If you ever need a true friend, I am here always."   
  
Raven returned the hug and smiled at him when he pulled away. "I have no doubt about that. Likewise to you, Dane C'xon. May the Force be with you."   
  
"And with you, Raven."   
  
She smiled again and gave him a full bow. Then she turned and disappeared into the hallway to go home to the Temple. 


End file.
